Ron Goes To The Mat
by daccu65
Summary: AU for the events surrounding STD. Ron returns from Japan determined to better himself, in secret. How will this affect those closest to him? Chapters 62 and 63 added. And complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Ron Goes to the Mat**

**Opening Comments**

Before anything else, I don't own Kim Possible, nor any of the characters in this story. While I have invented a few new characters, I make no claim of ownership. Anybody kind enough to take the time to read this work is welcome to use these characters.

I appreciate and encourage your reviews. However I would ask three things before you take the time to review this story:

#1. I will be referencing the sport of high school wrestling quite heavily. In so doing, I will be referring to the weight classes, holds, and moves I learned when in high school. These might not be the same as current moves, holds, and weight classes. If you feel such discrepancies detract from the story, please comment. Otherwise, write them off as a well meaning, middle-aged man doing the best that he can.

#2. Please don't flame me just for the sake of flaming me. While I am more than happy to accept criticism of my work, simply calling me an idiot won't have much effect. I am already perfectly aware that I am one.

#3. I will be referencing some of the episodes in this story. These references will not match the episode events exactly. My goal is to use the general events of these episodes to further my story. I state this so that nobody will waste their time pointing out these errors.

On with my comments:

First of all, I haven't seen very many of the Kim Possible Episodes. However the few that I have seen have intrigued me with the characters: Kim, the world-saving teenage heroine, Ron, her best friend and mostly inept sidekick, the brilliant but flaky Dr. Drakken, etc. Probably the most wonderful aspect of recreational writing is the fact that you can alter a show's canon to fit into your story. Here then, are the alterations that I have made to the show's canon (other than content of individual shows).

I have placed the start of this story about midpoint, first semester of Kim and Ron's Junior Year. The events of 'Exchange' have just taken place. The events of 'Crush' and 'Blush' took place shortly before this story, although Kim and Ron have not discussed certain events in these episodes.

I have decided that Middleton has a large, public park, which is in the vicinity of the mall. I have placed the mall/park area beyond a convenient walk from Ron and Kim's homes. Because of this they either use Ron's scooter, the public busses, or catch a ride with someone else when they go to either of these locations. I have decided that both Monique and Sue (new character) live within walking distance of the mall and park. Of course, Kim and Ron are within easy walking distance of each other, Bueno Nacho, and school.

I have based Middleton High's athletic seasons upon the athletic season's I experienced at my much smaller high school:

Fall: Football, Cross-country, Girl's Basketball.

Winter:Boys Basketball, Wrestling, Gymnastics

Spring:Track and Field

Summer:No school-based sports.

Since I have had no experience with other high-school level sports, please feel free to let me know if I've put a sport in the wrong season.

Please enjoy my story and I'll catch you later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Setting the Stage**

The teenager spent the long flight in deep thought, which was an activity that did not come naturally to him. Sure he was looking at the movie screen and wearing both the earphones and a silly grin, but Ron Stoppable's brain was churning out some disquieting conclusions.

All the more disquieting because they didn't deal with his failures.

_I actually succeeded,_ he told himself. _I didn't have to sit back and watch other people do it all for me!_

_I held my own against Monkey Fist! I held my own against his pack of monkey ninjas! I BEAT Fukushima all by myself! I actually mastered some skills at the Yamanouchi School!_

Most people would find pleasant memories by reviewing successes but not Ron Stoppable. For Ron Stoppable, the self-proclaimed loser and (when he got around to it), procrastinator this brought up some very troubling follow-up thoughts.

Maybe I CAN succeed back at Middleton. Maybe if I pay attention (ick!) prepare (yuck!) and put in my best effort (eewww!) I can actually make something of myself. Maybe I can even help KP on the missions, rather than just get in the way and lose my pants all the time!

He frowned.

But I promised Sensei to never reveal Yamanouchi or what I learned there. Sure, I can work up my grades at school, but what about the rest? If I start to actually accomplish things on the missions, people are gonna know something happened. If I (shudder) knuckle down and bring my grades up, I'll be able to explain away being better with the gear Wade gives us, but what about the tangling with the bad guys? I'm nowhere near KP or Shego in a rumble, but I bet I can handle the typical sidekick or hired hand now. How do I do this without letting on that I actually learned something in Japan?"

Ron stared, unseeing, at the movie screen. He didn't even hear the soundtrack. He wanted to DO something even while covering up the source of his motivation.

_I'll just have to keep being the buffoon_, he thought. _I can be better without looking like I'm doing a better job. It will be my secret_." He frowned. "_But that isn't good enough. If I manage to do something right someone might not buy the buffoon act._

_Maybe sports_, he thought. _If I join a sports team, that might cover for me if I let something slip."_ He liked the thought. "_But what sport? It's too late for football, lacrosse or cross-country. I can't skate so hockey is out. Maybe I can (groan) ask Mr. B for advice when I get back._

_I also have a lot of growing up to do. I've acted like a jealous puppy towards Kim since she's been dating Josh. Since I'm not in the running to date her it's time for me to just accept the fact that she's going to have boyfriends_.

His mind made up, Ron settled back and worked on the story he would tell his friends, family and teachers when he got back.

Kim and Monique had of course deluged him with questions when he got off the plane. But for once in his life, prior preparation had made Ron ready for the situation. He produced some souvenirs, including shirts with a Japanese high school's logo for the two girls, without telling them that he hadn't actually been inside the school. He told them that the food was good, and let them spend the bus ride into town wringing the full story, slightly altered, about all of the damage he had managed to cause. He had worked the whole thing out on the plane, so he was able to force them to 'force' the confessions out of him. As usual, they reacted with horror, ill-concealed humor, and condescending affection.

Ron put on his usual, silly, dufus grin. The 'I don't care what happened because I don't care what happens next' grin.

The 'I didn't try any harder because I'm incapable of doing anything right anyway' grin.

The 'please be nice to me because I'm so incredibly pathetic' grin.

God, but how he hated that grin.

Finally, the girls suggested a stop at BN for some recharging. Ron declined. Both were shocked, but he assured them that he had a major case of jetlag. This was true enough and everyone knew that Ron Stoppable's second favorite activity was sleeping.

Monique hopped off the bus at the Mall stop for her upcoming shift. Kim and Ron got off at their neighborhood stop. Kim, of course, was overjoyed to have her best friend back. As they walked, she talked about the goings on around Middleton while he was gone. Fortunately, no missions had come up during this time. It had been a quiet week.

KP next started to talk about the goings on at the school. Who was seeing whom and who had done what.

_KP,_ Ron thought to himself. _You are my oldest, best and truest friend. You're a best buddy and a twin sister all rolled into one. But I don't think that you've ever realized how little the school 'food chain' means to me. You're not a bad person by any means, but you're high up on the chain and like the rest of you up there you assume that all of us bottom feeders are in perpetual awe of the actions at the top. Truth be told, most of us couldn't care less._

But KP was his friend, and she had supported him in plenty of his interests, even when he knew she pretty much didn't care. So he paid attention, commented and enjoyed her company all the way to where they had to split up to go their separate ways home.

She gave Ron a big hug.

"It's good to have you back RS."

"Good to be back, KP."

The rest of the day was as routine as returning from overseas could be. Japan had been such a peaceful, well-run country that KP and him had never done a mission there. As a result his parents had as many questions as his two friends did. Ron stuck to his story, holding back on some of the details that he had given KP and Monique. After all he was a teenager and hiding the worst of the story was to be expected.

Then he claimed jet lag and of course his parents insisted that he get some sleep. With that, it was off to his room. He unpacked his bags but didn't go to sleep. Instead he quietly (he was good at that now) slipped out of his window and into the woods outside his home.

He walked around the small woodland, mapping out secluded spots in his mind. He picked out various areas that couldn't be seen from the surrounding homes.

_I can do my katas here,_ he thought. _And my other exercises. I can run in the mornings (ick) before dawn. The tree house will be great for meditating. I can do this! I can practice Tai Sheng Pek Kwar in secret. I can make myself better and keep my promise to Sensei!_

And I can become a secret weapon for KP.

With that a satisfied Ron Stoppable sneaked back into his room, hit the sack and dropped into a deep sleep. The next morning he woke up before dawn and sneaked back outside. In the darkness he stretched out then ran for several miles. False dawn found him performing Bo Katas under Rufus's watchful eye. As the sun was peaking above the horizon he sneaked back into his room.

At 7:00 AM Mrs. Stoppable pounded on her son's door to wake him up. Sure, he must be tired from all the traveling, but why didn't he ever get up when his alarm clock went off? She always had to wake him up!

That day, after classes, Ron approached his Homeroom where Mr. Barkin ran detention.

"Stoppable," Barkin said upon seeing him, "what are you doing here on a Friday when you don't have detention? Are you so conditioned to be here that you just can't help yourself?"

"N-n-no sir," Ron replied, over the giggles of the students in detention. "I was wondering if I could ask you some advice."

"Okay people," Mr. Barkin growled at the class. "I'm going to be just outside the door. Any funny business and you'll be spending even more time here. Stoppable, after you."

"What's on your mind?" Barkin asked as soon as they were out of the room.

"Sir, I hate to bother you with this, but I really want to join a sports team."

"You want to be an athlete?" Barkin seemed dumfounded.

"Not so much an athlete sir, but I want to get involved. Do you have any suggestions?"

Ron was pleasantly surprised when Barkin did not belittle him. In fact the big man looked up with a thoughtful expression, scratching his chin.

"As you know, Stoppable, it's too late for any of the fall sports." He paused. "You've got a reputation as a screw-up. Aren't you a little concerned that you'll take more grief while you're on a team?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Barkin." It was a new voice. Both Ron and the teacher looked over the newcomer.

Ron recognized the boy as Oscar Williamsen, a junior who was new to the school this year.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," he continued, "I was passing by and I overheard Ron's question."

"I take it you think you have an answer?" Asked Barkin.

"Yes sir. Ron, have you thought about joining the wrestling squad?"

"I hadn't thought about it," Ron admitted. "To be honest I didn't even remember that we had a wrestling team."

"I hate to confess that I forgot as well," said Mr. Barkin. "You'd think that I would remember. During wrestling season, every lunch break means about twenty boys wandering the halls, holding their stomachs, and reading cookbooks as if they were erotic novels."

"I see that this school is the same as my last one," Oscar grinned. "But if it's fine with the two of you, why don't I take Ron down to the Pit?"

"The Pit?" Ron didn't like the sound of that.

"That's what the wrestling gym is called. I checked with Coach Winters when school started."

"Stoppable, are you interested?" Asked Barkin.

"Sure, why not?"

"Good," said Oscar, "this gives me a captive audience for my spiel on the way down."


	3. Why Wrestle?

**Chapter 2: Why Wrestle?**

Oscar and Ron set off for the Gym Building. On the way, Ron reviewed what little he knew of his companion. He knew that Oscar's family had moved to Middleton over the summer. From overhearing talk around the school, he knew that Oscar had come from a small town in one of the Dakotas. While Ron had never started a conversation with him Ron guessed that he was an okay guy. He seldom spoke but when he did he was well mannered, pleasant and he always seemed to hold doors for people. He was in Ron's American Government Class but no others. Ron recalled seeing Trigonometry and Chemistry textbooks in the other boy's bag during this class so Oscar must be a pretty good student.

Ron took a few minutes to look over the other boy. Oscar was about Ron's height, about 5'6 or so. He had a very plain face with a somewhat crooked nose. His hair was reddish brown and he kept it cut very short, almost a crewcut. He wasn't much for being in fashion. As usual he wore jeans, boots, and a cotton button up shirt. He looked very much like a blue-collar worker heading out for a day's work. Although these clothes masked his body, Ron knew that he would have a very wiry yet strong build. Ron had locked up with enough henchmen and villains to recognize toughness when he encountered it. The kicker was Oscar's neck. It came out to the outside edges of his ears.

Ron grinned inwardly. He had been doing the 'save the world' missions with Kim for so long that he couldn't help but evaluate someone's physical attributes upon a first meeting. Oscar seemed to be sizing Ron up as well. _Teenage male thing I guess_. Ron thought.

"I thought wrestling season started later in the year." Ron broke the silence.

"It does. Coach Winters is holding workouts three times a week. You can see the workout and judge for yourself if you want to join. If so, the extra workouts will give you a leg up for when the season starts in earnest after the fall sports seasons are over."

"If you like wrestling so much why aren't you working out right now?"

"I made the football team so I'm tied up on the field until the season ends. Since it's a home game tonight I've got a few minutes to try to recruit another wrestler before I have to be at the Locker Room." Oscar grinned, "I guess you have a few minutes before you need to put on the Mad Dog Uniform."

"A few," Ron agreed, "don't take this wrong but I don't recall what position you play."

"No big deal. I'm the backup fullback and backup strong safety. I'm not big enough to play linebacker and I'm not fast enough to be the tailback or a starting safety. But I don't mind. I get some playing time every game. My dad gets to see me play so I don't care if the whole school doesn't recognize me."

"Sort of like being the Mascot?" The boys shared a commiserating smile. Ron had just met Oscar but he already knew the newcomer would be a good friend.

"So you were saying something about a spiel?" Ron gave Oscar his opening.

"Remember," started Oscar, "that I'm biased. I think that high school wrestling is the greatest sport there is. So take everything I say with a grain of salt. Now here's why I love the sport. First of all, you wrestle in weight classes. The weight classes are 98, 105, 112, 119, 126, 132, 138, 145, 155, 167, 185 and heavyweight. That means that unlike football, lacrosse, or even basketball, you won't get run over by someone who outweighs you by fifty pounds. You'll be going up against guys roughly your size. I'm not trying to be insulting but you're not exactly buff and packed. This makes wrestling a good sport for us noodle-arms"

"_Us_ noodle-arms?" Ron looked the wiry student up and down.

"I didn't start filling in my frame till this summer. Look Ron, I don't think that either of us will ever be what you could call 'ripped' but we can put on a sort of wiry strength. In fact, if you're helping Possible in her missions wiry strength just might be preferable to big, bulging muscles."

"Good point," answered Ron, secretly wincing at how close Oscar had come to why he wanted to join a team. "Got any more reasons I should want to wrestle?"

"Yeah, the second reason is that popularity and coolness don't matter out on the mat. You can be dirt poor, ugly, have no fashion sense, a bad dancer and never have a snappy comeback. Once you're out on the mat you're a wrestler and that's all that matters. Your teammates can't decide to not pass you the ball because they don't like you. You're out there, mano-a-mano, with your opponent. I'm not saying that they do, but the coaches can't put someone in just to play favorites. You pick out the varsity on the mat in the practice room."

"Okay, wrestling is strictly merit based much like an algebra test. Anything else?"

"Yes. You may have to make up your mind about this yourself but I think that wrestling is just about the best workout you can get. I don't consider myself a real jock but I've played football and run both track and cross-country. Wrestling is the hardest workout I've ever had and it hits every muscle in your body. Of course some of your martial arts might be rougher but like I said before, you make the call."

"I believe you there. I watched a little Olympic Wrestling and those guys looked like every muscle they had got worked."

"High School Wrestling is similar to the Free Style Wrestling you see on the Olympics. The rules are a little different to keep the sport more safe. You wrestle up to three periods of two minutes each. The first period starts with both of you on your feet, the second starts with one of you on top, the last starts with the other on top. If at any time one of you scores a pin the match is over."

"I'm with you so far."

"Good. You score points against your opponent during your match. The result of the match scores points for the team. For the match, if you take your opponent down, you get two points."

"What's a takedown?" Ron asked.

"The rule book defines a takedown as placing yourself in a dominant position from a neutral position. The way I say it is that if the two of you are on your feet, and you put your opponent on the mat with you on top, you've scored a takedown."

"Got it, and this scores me two points?"

"Yes. Next is an escape. If your opponent is on top of you, and you break loose and both wind up on your feet, you've just scored an escape. That's one point for you. The next is a reversal. If you are on the bottom and you put your opponent on the bottom without both of you going to your feet, that's a reversal and it's worth two points. Next are near fall points. If you turn your opponent onto his back, so that his shoulders form a less than forty-five degree angle to the mat, you get two points for the near fall. If you hold this position for more than five seconds that score goes up to three points."

"Finally, there's the pin. If you hold both of his shoulders to the mat for two seconds, you have pinned him. This is an automatic win and the match is over. Neither the match score, nor the time left matter. The ref will slap the mat, once, to signal this."

"That's it?"

"Pretty much. There are penalty points for faults like clasping hands, stalling, and other things. You'll pick up more on the rules during the practices. The goal is to take your opponent down, turn him over onto his back, and pin him."

"What about team points?"

"If the two of you wrestle to a draw both teams get two points. If you win by fewer than eight points the team gets three points. If you win by between eight and eleven points the team gets four points. If you win by more than twelve points the team gets five points. If you win by a pin, forfeit, or disqualification the team gets six."

Oscar paused a minute. "That was scoring for a duel, or when two teams wrestle each other. During tournaments, or when you have eight or more teams, the scoring is different. You score a few points for winning and pinning but you really score points for placing."

"Placing?" Ron asked.

"During tournaments the wrestlers in each weight class are put together like their own elimination tournament. If you place 1st through fourth, and sometimes even further down, you generate 'placing points' for your team. That's where the major team points are scored in tournaments. If you score ten team points in a season you earn a letter."

"Okay," Ron answered, "I'm getting the picture. Now since I'm hardly a jock and this is the first I've ever wrestled, I can't picture me being on the varsity. What happens to us 'not good enough' guys?"

"That's the best part. When we wrestle a duel with another school, both schools bring in all their non-varsity wrestlers and put them up against each other. No official team scores are kept for these 'B' matches. So everyone gets to wrestle everyone from the other team. How much do you weigh?"

"About 125 or so."

"Okay say we have four guys, including you, in the 126 weight class. Now say you don't make the varsity and we wrestle Lowerton. Say they've got three guys in the 126-weight class. Both of their 'B' guys will wrestle all three of our 'B' guys. Heck, if they have a spare 132 guy you'll get to wrestle him. It's all about getting in as much mat time as you can. The other thing is that the 'B' guys have to set up the mats for the matches."

"I have to admit that I'm interested." By now the two boys had reached a small workout room to the side of the main gym.

"Good, here's The Pit. See what you think."

Ron had about twenty minutes to watch the wrestlers work out before he had to get ready for the game. What he saw intrigued him. He saw a few of the food chain elite and some of his fellow bottom dwellers throwing each other across the mats. While he watched the room became hotter and more humid. Sweat started to pour out of the boys working out. They hardly seemed to notice. Ron wasn't an expert on wrestling but he knew a good workout when he saw one.

_The best part of this is that it's an individual sport._ He thought. _That means if I screw up I'm not bringing the team down. The only way I could do that is if I make the varsity._ He snorted out a laugh. _Like the ultimate loser will ever manage that._

Ron screwed up his courage and went to introduce himself to Coach Winters.


	4. Reactions to the Decision

**Chapter 3: Reactions to the Decision**

Ron flinched as he walked to school. Kim was with him, very angry, and not shy about letting him know about it.

"I don't understand why you're doing this!" It was the third or fourth time she had repeated this. Ron answered again.

"Look Kim, I just want to join a sports team. It's not like you don't have activities outside of cheerleading."

"But they don't affect the squad!" She snapped.

"Its not like I'm really on the squad is it?" He snapped back. "I'm just the mascot! All I do is run out, do a couple of flips, let the kids laugh at me and stay out of the way!"

"When have I said that you're not a member of the squad!"

"_You've_ always said that I'm a member, but the rest of the squad doesn't really care now, does it? Listening to Bonnie, you'll all be better off without me around."

"That's just Bonnie!"

"Kim, its just three days a week. I'll still be able to practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"Oh so now you're so good that you only need to practice twice a week?"

"Did I say that? Kim, this is important to me! Besides, you let the rest of the squad take time off for other activities!"

"This is about me and Josh dating isn't it?"

"How can that be? Josh isn't on the squad and as far as I know he doesn't wrestle. How can this have anything to do with him or the two of you?"

"You think that since I'm spending time away from you, you're going to find a reason to spend time away from me!"

"Kim, that's silly!"

"So now I'm being silly?"

Ron took a deep breath and made a solid effort to get his temper back under control. Wasn't Kim always trying to get him to apply himself? Wasn't she always trying to get him to do things?

"Kim, yelling isn't fixing anything. Can we start over and try to keep ourselves calm?"

Kim glared at him. He could see her getting ready to positively screech before she calmed down.

"You're right," she said, "let's be logical about this."

"Okay, item number one. I'm not really part of the squad. I know I practice with the squad but let's be honest. You put the routines together with just the cheerleaders. You then leave it up to me to insert myself into the routine. I'm sort of an add-on. Like chocolate on ice cream or peanut butter on a hamburger."

"Eeeewwww. I didn't need to hear that but I'll agree that you've been an add-on rather than an integral part. However that add-on has helped us win several awards."

"I appreciate that. However two days of practice each week will work for me because of this. The cheerleaders need full practice weeks. I don't. It's not because I'm better but because I'm not as important."

"Ron…"

"Honesty KP, honesty."

"Fine, I'll admit that you don't play as large a role as we cheerleaders and I'll grant that because of this you don't need to be there for every practice."

"Okay, point one is finished. Since there is no reason for me to be there more than two practices per week there is no problem with me joining the pre-season wrestling team. Now for point two."

"Back up to point one. Come November the Wrestling Season proper starts and you're going to be practicing every day!"

"But you'll have most of the routines set by this time. You'll only be making minor alterations from then on. I've already talked to Coach Winters and he'll give me one day off a week, unless I make varsity."

"What happens if you make varsity?"

"Then he wants me to practice every day but c'mon. I've never wrestled before in my life and it's me we're talking about. What are the chances that I'll make the varsity squad?"

"Okay, so that's settled. You can join the wrestling team and still be the mascot. Satisfied?"

"With point one, now for point two."

"There's a point two?

"Yes," Ron took a deep breath. "You have been dating Josh for about a month now and I've been acting like a jerk."

"What's that have to do with the squad?"

"Nothing, but you brought your dating life up while we were arguing a few minutes ago. The fact is that I've been jealous about the time you spend with him. From what you've said he's also uneasy about the amount of time we spend together. The result is that your best friend and your boyfriend are trading barbed comments and it's affecting you. I just want to say that I'm going to try to quit being a jerk. That should make things easier for you."

Kim stopped dead and stared at Ron with her mouth hanging open. "Who are you and what have you done with my self-centered best friend?" She demanded.

"I'm trying to be a best friend and when someone wants to be with her boyfriend, her best friend backs off and gives her time."

"Ron, I don't want to cut you out of my life!"

"I don't want that either. We still have the walks to school, missions and two a week practices."

"Is that all?"

"Work it out with Josh. Set up 'couple time' with him and fit the 'friend' time with me around it."

"When did you become so mature."

_After a hard week of introspection in Japan, _Ron thought. Then he put on his best goofy grin and said, "it was bound to happen sooner or later but don't worry. I'm sure that this is a one-shot deal and I'll be acting childish and immature for the rest of the day."

"You goof!"

"See, point proven."

The two teens continued toward school, now maintaining a friendly chatter about classes, the squad routines, and other teen issues. They enjoyed each other's company until they reached school and spotted Josh. Ron stepped forward.

"Josh," he said, "we've been in an awkward situation and I've been a jerk about it. Kim has been my friend for a long time and I was jealous about the time she was spending with you. You have handled the situation much better than I have and I need to say that I'm sorry about my behavior."

Josh looked at him for a long moment. "I've had my bad moments as well."

Ron held out his right hand. "Friends?" He asked.

"Friends." Said Josh, shaking his hand.

"Well," said Ron, releasing Josh's hand, "if this friend doesn't get moving, he's going to be late. Catch you two later." With that Ron left the two of them alone.


	5. Adjustments

**Chapter 4: Adjustments**

Ron stood at the corner and waited for KP to show up so that they could walk to school. It had been four weeks now since she had taken his advice about balancing time between her boyfriend and best friend. Ron walked with her to school every morning and back home after school every afternoon. She spent Friday night and/or Saturday with Josh, whenever she felt like going out. She spent Sundays with Ron, doing all of the goofy stuff that they had done since before Kindergarten. Ron had admitted to himself that he had a crush on her. He also acknowledged to himself that she was waaaaayy out of his league in _that_ department. Once he had made that admission he was able to view his situation with her in a more positive light. While he wasn't exactly happy about sharing KP, he was content that she still spent time with him. So he had decided to keep busy in order to keep from thinking about it too much.

Every weekday morning he slipped out of his room at 5:00 AM and practiced Tai Sheng Pek Kwar until seven. Then he slipped back inside so that his mother was 'forced' to wake him up. He would get ready and walk to school with Kim. School lasted until 3:30 in the afternoon. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he worked out with the wrestling team and on Tuesdays and Thursdays he worked out with the cheerleading squad. Workouts ended at 5:30 PM. He would walk back home with Kim. Once at his house he would drop his workout clothes in the washer (the first time his mother had caught a whiff of his sweaty wrestling clothes she had informed him _he_ was washing them from now on.) and get ready for dinner. After dinner he would do homework until 9:00 PM then go to bed.

Saturdays had been lonely without KP around, but he had gotten in the habit of hanging around with Felix and/or Oscar. He would go to Temple in the morning, then spend his two hours on Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. After this he would finish any schoolwork from the week then call one, or both, of the two. Oscar would show him wrestling moves and give him some pointers. He and Felix would either shoot baskets or play Zombie Mayhem. Oscar loved to fish and took both of them up to Lake Middleton once where the three boys had pulled in five walleye. That night Oscar had cleaned the fish and Ron had made them the centerpiece of one of his famous feasts. His parents had promptly urged Ron to go fishing with Oscar again, soon.

Sundays Ron tended to sleep in late then do a last review of his schoolwork. KP usually called around one and they would do the best friend thing. They talked a lot, rode bikes, saw movies, all of the things that they had done for years. She would also insist on checking to make sure that his homework was done. She was getting increasingly irritated that it was almost always done and correct. She was also somewhat incensed that Ron now limited himself to one Bueno Nacho meal a week and that it was usually a salad. She had tried, for years, to get him to eat better and now he was doing just that with no input from her.

Both Coach Winters and Oscar had suggested that Ron lay off the junk food. Since he had already decided to act more mature, Ron had done so. He had contacted Wade to see if the genius could help. Wade called in some favors had had some equipment dropped off at Ron's house. Every other week, Ron drew a small sample of blood and left it out on his back door. Ron didn't know, and didn't want to think about, how the samples got picked up or where they went. All that he knew was that Wade would have them analyzed then generate a food list to give Ron the perfect balance of carbs, vitamins, protein, minerals, etc.

It was up to Ron to prepare his menu, which he did with all of his 'boy chef' genius. He now packed most of his lunches for school. These were heavy on the veggies, fruits and lean meat. He had learned to pack extra food since friends and teammates liked to sample his wares. As a result of his improved diet, Ron's slight case of acne had vanished and he had initially lost some weight but was now putting weight back on.

Thus it was a happier Ron Stoppable who was waiting at the corner for Kim to show up this Thursday morning. When he spotted her he knew that she was irritated. Ten plus years of friendship meant that he could read her like a book from a distance. She wasn't mad enough to yell. She wasn't even mad enough to deliver barbed comments. Ron judged her posture and guessed that he would have about a fifty- percent chance of getting her to open up before they got to school.

"Morning, KP." He greeted her.

"Humph!" She simply snorted in reply then kept on walking. Ron fell into step beside her. They walked for a short time until Ron felt that is was the right time to find out what was bothering her.

"May I assume that your sunny disposition is due to something I've done?" He asked.

She glared at him for a long moment before her expression softened. "No, it's not you." She said, and continued to walk.

"Something I can help with?" He asked after giving her a few minutes.

"Oh, so now _you're_ the expert on everything Mr. Wrestler!"

"Whoa, KP! Never said I was the expert on anything. Just asking if I could help. I take that as a no."

She glared at him for several long moments before her face fell. "I'm sorry, I just...don't feel like talking about it."

"That's cool, KP. Just as long as you know I'm here if and when you do feel like talking."

"Thanks, Ron," it was hardly more than a whisper. "Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you ever come to my house anymore? Mom's asking about you."

_Because I don't want to make your boyfriend jealous and have _you_ tell me to stay away_. He thought, then he said, "It's your mom's bon-diggity breakfasts. I gotta keep the weight down for the team and you know how I handle temptation."

She gave him a searching look, almost pleading. But by this time they had reached school. As was his habit, Ron accompanied her until they met Josh. At that time he greeted Kim's boyfriend and politely excused himself. He forced himself to display his goofy smile and have a spring in his step even as he left _her_ with _him_.


	6. SelfImprovement

**Chapter 5: Self-Improvement**

Ron wiped the sweat out of his eyes, sat back, and tried to catch his breath. The wrestling season had started, officially, two weeks ago. The team was getting ready for the first dual of the year next week against Lowerton High. As for Ron, he worked out with the wrestling team Monday through Thursday and drilled with the cheerleaders every Friday. He had to admit that the hard work was doing him worlds of good.

He had initially planned to do the bare minimum in wrestling. After all it was only supposed to be a cover for any improvements his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar practice may provide and which he might inadvertently expose. However the first week of three-a-week practice showed him that while wrestling wasn't a combat sport it was definitely a good workout. Secondly he realized that if he failed to give his best he was wasting everybody's time including his own. He had jumped into the sport whole-heartedly with this new attitude.

He hadn't truly appreciated just how intense these workouts could be. He hadn't even heard of some of the exercises before, much less worked on the muscles that they worked out. First there was a thing called 'Neck Bridges.' Everyone would get down on the mat, face down, with only their foreheads and feet touching the mat. Then they would rotate their necks. First they would put their noses on the mat, and then the left ear, then tuck their chins into their chests, then put their right ears on the mat, and repeat. Hands were not allowed to touch the mat. After rotating their necks several times they would flip over, performing a summersault without allowing their backs to touch the mat. Now face up, with still only feet and heads touching the mat, they would rotate their necks all over again. Then they would spin themselves face down again and repeat. They did neck-bridges for several minutes each workout. Ron spent the first week turning his torso, rather than his neck, whenever anyone yelled at him from any direction other than ahead. He could definitely see where Oscar came by that thick neck of his.

Another thing was called 'Spin Drills.' They paired up for these. One boy would get on all fours, keeping his head up. The other boy would put his chest on the middle of the first boy's back, one hand on his lower back and one hand on his head. When the coach blew his whistle, the 'upper' boy would rotate his body clockwise, using his chest and the 'lower' boys back as the center point. Every time the upper boy had to get his body past the lower boy's head, he would shove the lower boy's head down while the lower boy tried to keep his head up. (_More_ neck strength, _groan_.) The upper boys changed direction every time the coach blew his whistle. If you didn't execute a given number of rotations, you had to do push-ups. Then the boys would swap places and repeat, again and again and….

These and other unique drills were performed along with running up and down a hill outside the gym and the requisite push-ups, sit-ups, leg lifts and abdominal crunches. Following their conditioning workout they would spend time learning new moves and holds. Coach would show them a technique then they would pair up and drill on each other, one boy executing the move and one boy defending against it. After learning new moves and reviewing old ones, the majority of practice consisted of sprints.

Dear mercy, the sprints! They would pair off and wrestle against each other in every possible way, either both from their feet or one up and one down. Then coach would blow his whistle and they would wrestle each other. If you started on your feet you tried for a takedown. If you were on the top you tried to turn your opponent over. If you started on the bottom you tried for an escape or reversal. At the end of the sprint, if you hadn't scored points, you had to do push-ups. Then you would rotate opponents and repeat again and again and….

The strangest part to Ron was the way he was drawn to the intellectual part of the sport. It was kind of like a video game. When you were playing Zombie Mayhem, and the Limburger Ghoul jumped you from behind, you tapped the joystick forward, hit the A and B buttons at the same time, then tapped the stick left then right. In wrestling, when your opponent shot a Double-Leg, you sprawled, hammered a Cross-Face in, then spun while reaching for his ankle. It was fascinating! Which moves countered which holds, which maneuvers worked best for his build, the advantages and disadvantages he had against his different opponents, it was great!

Ron's new competitive attitude had extended to his classes. Now he didn't look on homework and tests like cruel punishments handed down by sadistic teachers. Now they were challenges! The teachers gave out assignments and it was up to him to 'win' by coming up with the best solution. It was just like Zombie Mayhem or wrestling. You put in the practice (homework) so you could beat your opponent (the test); His grades had shown steady improvement since his second week on the team.

But probably the best thing was the camaraderie. Just last week a couple of toughs had cornered him in D Hall and tried to take his money. Ron fought back _without_ using his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. He had managed to back both of them off, receiving a fat lip and bruised ribs in return, when two more of the gang showed up. Ron had prepared himself for a severe beating when two of the guys from the team stepped out of the crowd and backed him up. The shared hard times in The Pit had bonded the boys to the point that if they weren't friends they were at least allies. The three wrestlers stared down the four toughs (two roughed up worse than Ron) until the toughs backed down. Ron thanked his teammates. They patted him on the back and said "don't mention it." It was the first time he had stood up for himself in school without KP around.

Ron was happier than he had been since KP had started dating Josh. Academically, athletically, mission-wise and socially (with the exception of the girlfriend department) his life was looking up. But then again, there was some hope on the girlfriend front. With his routine of leaving KP with Josh as soon as they reached school, he was spending more time around his own locker and had started chatting with Sue, a girl whose locker was two down from his own. She was a slender, brown-haired girl with whom he shared an Algebra class. As time had gone on, they had both started to arrive a bit earlier and spent the time talking. Ron had absolutely zilch experience in the dating department but he knew that he and Sue were flirting with each other. He was trying to tweak up his courage to ask her out.

Yet this would wait another day for he was now catching his breath after his first challenge match. The time had come for the team to establish the pecking order for each weight class. Ron was in the 126-pound division along with three others: Dave, Tony and Paul. He had just beat Tony while Dave had beat Paul. Now he was going to go against Dave while Tony and Paul wrestled. The coach called him and Dave out to the one end of The Pit.


	7. Challenge Match

**Chapter 6: Challenge Match**

"Okay, shake hands." Ron and Dave shook hands and shared a nod. This wasn't personal but they both wanted to win. Both backed up to opposite sides of a circle on the mat.

"Get ready." Both Ron and Dave took up a ready stance, one foot on the circle, one foot inside. They were about eight feet away from each other. Coach Winters held up one hand, to indicate his match was ready to start. At the other end of the Pit, Oscar was acting as the referee between Tony and Paul. He also held up one hand. Bruce, one of the heavyweights, had a whistle and a stopwatch. Seeing both hands up he blew the whistle and the two matches were on.

Ron and Dave closed in on each other. Ron was slightly taller, so he had a reach and range advantage. Dave was probably slightly stronger. Dave was also a senior, and had been wrestling since his freshman year. The older boy made a quick lunge at Ron's feet. Ron sprawled back only to realize that it was a feint. Dave shot for the legs in earnest while Ron was recovering.

_Oh snap_! Ron thought while he forced in a Cross-Face and tried to get his legs back. _He got me good_. Indeed, the older boy had a solid grip on Ron's thighs and was driving forward, his right shoulder in Ron's belly. Ron got his own right forearm across Dave's face and used that hand to grab Dave's left shoulder. But Dave had managed to shoot in too deep for the Cross-Face to stop him. He ignored the fact that his nose was smashed flat against his cheek, got his legs under him and lifted Ron off of the ground. Dave then used his head to tilt Ron to the side, dumping him on his left hip.

Ron rolled with the move, giving up the takedown but refusing to be thrown to his back. He got his knees under him even as Dave pounced on him and he heard the coach awarding Dave the two points for the takedown. Ron started forward in a move called a sit-out but he felt Dave's hand grab his ankle. Keeping a hold of Ron's ankle, Dave lunged forward. Ron, able to use only one leg, couldn't keep up. Ron was forced flat down onto the mat. Ron had a lapse in concentration and allowed his head to drop and his left elbow to rise up. Dave quickly slid his own left hand under Ron's left arm and over Ron's neck in a Half-Nelson. Before Ron could even try to break the hold, Dave used it to drive him over onto his back.

This was where all of the neck-strength practice came into play. Ron bridged, putting his head down and keeping his back off of the mat. Dave was keeping his weight on Ron, forcing the younger boy to exert himself by keeping both boys' weight suspended. Dave was perpendicular to Ron, chest to chest. Dave's left arm around Ron's neck and his right arm trying to tie up Ron's right leg in an attempt to break down Ron's bridge. Ron got his right hand between his and Dave's chests and forced his entire arm in between them. This gave Ron the space he needed to roll off of his back and escape the hold. Ron got back to his belly then started to get up to his knees while he heard the coach award Dave three points for the near fall.

Ron tried a sit-out again, this time beating Dave's Ankle Pick. Ron was a bit quicker than his opponent and managed to create a little space between them. Ron jumped to his feet and sprinted in a circle, peeling Dave's arm from around his waist. He turned into his opponent and faced him. They started to hand-spar; both trying for a hold on the others wrists while the coach awarded Ron a point for the escape.

Ron got a grip on Dave's left wrist and pulled. Dave pulled back and Ron let go. Dave was expecting resistance so his hand flew back. Ron executed his own Double-Leg into the opening. His shot was every bit as good as Dave's had been. Ron accepted the alteration to his nose's structure, drove into the older boy and lifted him off of the ground. Even as he was dumping Dave over the whistle blew. The first period of the match was over. Dave was ahead five to one.

The next period would start with one up and one down. Coach gave Dave the choice. Dave chose up. Ron dropped onto the mat on all fours, with his toes curled up under his feet. Dave took up the up stance: left hand holding Ron's left elbow, right arm around Ron's waist with his right hand flat on Ron's stomach. Dave's left knee was just to the outside of Ron's left knee; Dave's right knee was up with his right foot behind Ron's feet. Seeing both boys were in the proper stance to start, the coach raised his hand to indicate this to Bruce. Moments later the whistle blew and the match was on again.

Ron tried for another Sit-Out but Dave executed another Ankle-Pick and forced Ron into the mat. This time Ron kept his elbows down and his head up. Dave wasn't able to get a pinning hold and Ron got back up on his knees. Again, Dave picked Ron's ankle before the younger boy was able to execute an escape maneuver. Ron got broken down three times before he managed an offensive move of his own. Ron finally kicked Dave's hand off of his ankle and kicked his legs forward in a Sit-Out. He then rotated back onto his front while Dave struggled to keep up with him. Success, Ron's hips were now out from under Dave's, meaning that the younger boy no longer had to lug Dave's weight whenever he moved. Ron was still below Dave and off to Dave's right side. Dave kept his right arm clamped firmly around Ron's waist to prevent an escape.

Ron grabbed Dave's right wrist, holding it on his waist while he executed what Oscar had called a Gramby-Roll. Tucking his chin into his chest, Ron rolled across his own shoulders, left shoulder-back of the neck-right shoulder. Ron's whole body twisted Dave's arm, forcing him face down onto the mat. Ron wound up sitting on his butt off to Dave's right side, facing towards Dave's feet, with Dave's right arm still across his belly. Ron dug his right elbow into Dave's right armpit, keeping his opponent's face in the mat while he rolled himself onto Dave's back. Ron now had the reversal and a Hammerlock on Dave's right arm.

Ron heard the coach award him the two points for the reversal while he recalled that he could not allow the Hammerlock to form an acute angle at the elbow. If he were to crank the arm up towards Dave's neck it would be penalty point to Dave. He then realized that he didn't know any offensive moves that made use of a Hammerlock.

Ron released Dave's wrist, after securing a Chickenwing hold on that arm. He then wormed his left hand under Dave's left arm to grab his left wrist in an Armbar hold. Ron used his left arm as a lever to roll Dave's body up onto his own left arm. Then Ron slid his own body between Dave's body and right arm. He then drove with his feet, rotating both Dave and himself around their left arms. Dave's body reacted as it had to, by rolling over onto his back. Before Dave's shoulders could tilt over and give Ron a near-fall, the whistle blew again. The second period was over and Ron was still down five to three.

The boys readied themselves for the third and final period with Ron up and Dave down. Again the coach raised his hand and Bruce blew the whistle to start the matches.

Ron executed a Jam on Dave before the older boy could execute any sort of move. Ron dropped his left hand to Dave's left wrist, clenched his right arm tight around Dave's waist, and surged his entire weight toward Dave's immobilized left arm. Dave collapsed but the experienced wrestler kept his elbows down and his head up. Ron couldn't secure a pining hold. Dave managed to struggle back to his base. The two boys repeated this. Time was running out and Ron was getting desperate. He jumped off of Dave and took up a ready stance.

Dave jumped to his feet as the coach awarded him one point for the escape. Ron feinted a Double-Leg attempt then lunged to his left, extending his right hand to catch Dave's right ankle. Ron jumped to his feet again, bringing Dave's foot with him. Ron yanked on Dave's foot, pulling his opponent in close. He then used his right foot to trip Dave's left foot while surging himself forward into his opponent. Dave fell, barely managing to scissor his hips to keep from landing on his back. Ron was right on top of him.

While Ron picked Dave's ankle again, he heard the coach awarding him two more points for a takedown. Dave was off balance. Ron secured another Chickenwing hold, this time with his left arm. Ron wrapped his right arm around Dave's waist, catching his opponents left wrist with his right hand. He had it locked. Ron kept his hold while he dug his feet into the mat and rotated his body clockwise on top of Dave. Dave started to tilt over onto his back but he brought up his own right foot, dug it in, and resisted for all he was worth. Slowly, inexorably, Dave was being forced onto his back. Ron drove for all he was worth. Dave's shoulders were perpendicular to the mat and just tilting over when the whistle blew again. Ron had lost by a single point.


	8. Not Quite Failure

**Chapter 7: Not Quite Failure**

Ron and Dave shook hands at the end of the match. The coach held their wrists as they did, then raised Dave's hand to signify his victory. Most of the guys in the immediate area clapped politely. Ron congratulated Dave as they cleared the mat for the next match. Looking to the other end of The Pit, Ron saw that Tony had beaten Paul. Since Ron had beaten Tony earlier the Middleton Mad Dog's 126-pound lineup was finalized. Dave was the varsity wrestler, Ron was the 'B' team wrestler, Tony was third string and Paul was fourth.

Ron was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Dave told him, sincerely, that he had wrestled a very good match. He was also surprised at the number of other wrestlers who praised his efforts. Ron started to feel not so bad about loosing, again.

"Stoppable, see me after practice!" Coach Winters ordered. "The rest of you, if you don't have any matches left, clear out. We need the room to finish up here."

Since the coach had told Ron to wait, Ron decided that he had an excuse to stay in The Pit and watch the rest of the matches. So he tried to learn as much as he could from the other wrestlers. Oscar, who was in the 167 pound division, easily pinned his single opponent to make varsity. Finally all of the matches were over and the starting lineup had been finalized. Ron waited for the coach, preparing himself to be chewed out for his performance.

"Stoppable, what do you think about your last match?" The coach asked Ron when they were alone in The Pit.

"I just wasn't good enough to beat Dave, Coach."

Coach Winters looked at Ron for several long moments. "They told me that you had something of an inferiority complex." He mused, "Ron, let me tell you something about that match you lost. Dave has wrestled since he was a freshman. I took over two years ago during Dave's sophomore year. Last year he wrestled varsity at 119 and had a winning record. Dave is one of the guys I was counting on to make varsity and produce this year and he hasn't disappointed me."

Ron cringed upon hearing himself compared to a successful person once again.

"Snap out of it Stoppable! What I'm trying to say is that you've surprised the heck out of me out there. You have been wrestling for less than two months and you came within a gnat's wing of beating a guy who has a very good chance of placing at the state tournament this year."

"Really?" Ron couldn't stop the amazed question from popping out.

"Yes, really," Coach Winters grinned, "now this has two implications for you my young friend. The first is with this team. Dave was one of the guys I was counting on to make the varsity. He's at 126 and will represent us well there. We are much weaker at 132. Randy's good, but he just isn't at the level that you and Dave are. We will challenge again in two weeks and I want you to move up to 132. Didn't you say you were having some problems keeping your weight under 126?"

"I can try harder coach."

"Don't. You already have no non-glandular fat on your body. Every pound you're putting on is lean muscle. Keep bulking up and challenge at 132 in two weeks."

"Will do coach, what's the second implication?"

"Cheerleading. It's only fair for you to let Possible know that you will probably be on the varsity squad in a couple of weeks. I'll keep my promise and give you one day off each week as long as you aren't varsity. But the minute you make varsity you _will_ be in here every day. Understood?"

"Yes coach!"

"Good enough and good job, now hit the shower."

Ron took a quick shower and hustled over to the main Gym to walk Kim home. His discussion with the coach had him running late and he didn't know if she would still be there. Considering how upset she had been this morning he hoped that she didn't think that he had stood her up.

He walked in the front door. From the lobby he could see Kim sitting, alone, on the bleachers. She had her head down and looked like she was crying. She hadn't seen him yet so Ron retreated back to the front door and faked tripping over his gym bag with a loud 'whoa' thrown in. Then he walked through the lobby. Kim had regained her composure by the time he reached the gym.

"So, good to see that wrestling hasn't affected your footwork," she said in a weak voice.

"Hey KP, glad you waited for me," her red eyes were obvious so he felt it was safe to ask, "what's wrong KP?"

Kim looked at him for several seconds. She was clearly trying to decide if she should tell him or not. Finally she shook her head. "No big," she said. "Let's go home."

Ron let the matter drop. Kim would tell him in her own time, if at all. The two walked out of the gym and started home. They didn't talk, which was unusual. Kim usually wanted to talk about cheer drills, her classes, or even what the lunchroom had served up. Ron watched her out of the corner of his eye. Several times she appeared about to speak but didn't. Finally they reached the intersection where they would separate.

"You didn't give me a real answer this morning," Kim said, in the same weak voice from their walk to school.

"What was the question again?"

"Why don't you ever come over any more? You were just ready to say goodnight and head to your house. You used to walk me all the way home. It isn't all my mom's cooking is it?

_No, it's the fact that I'm desperately in love with you and keeping you at arm's length keeps the pain down_. He thought. He said, "Kim you have a boyfriend now. It just isn't proper for me to be hanging at your house."

"So it's Josh?"

"Not so much him but I know that if I had the greatest girl in Middleton as my girlfriend, I sure wouldn't like guys hanging with her at all hours. I don't want to cause any problems between the two of you."

Kim's eyes brightened and she actually smiled a little. "I can handle Josh, I just don't want to lose my best friend."

"You aren't losing me KP. I'm here whenever you need me. If you want to talk, go on a mission, or use me as a punching bag, I'm game." _I'm also game if you want to go on a date, to a dance, or look at me like you've looked at your boyfriends and crushes. But there's no way I'm going to ask since the answer will be no._

She smiled, really smiled, for the first time that day. "Thanks Ron, that really means a lot to me. Want to stop over for a bit?"

"I'd love to KP but observe gym bag full of workout clothing. If I don't get them into a washer within the next half-hour both clothing and the bag itself will start to ferment."

Her smile faltered. Ron quickly continued. "I'll stop by your house tomorrow morning if that's fine. The whole thought of wearing a 180-proof jockstrap turns my stomach, among other things."

Kim's smile returned in full force, at least before she covered her mouth and giggled. She suddenly jumped forward and gave him a big hug. "You're the best friend anybody could ever have. Never forget that."

She then sprang back, flashed him a dazzling smile, and skipped towards home with her head held higher than he had seen it for the last two days. Man but he hated it when he did something right and didn't know what it was!


	9. Dealing with the Results

**Chapter 8: Dealing with the Results**

Ron was very careful to not allow himself to use his visit to Kim's house to cut short his morning exercises. He put in his full two hours then slipped back into bed. Upon 'being woken up' by his mother, he walked to the Possible House and rang the bell. He had long ago been given permission to just come in but he thought that his recent hiatus would require a re-issuing of the permission.

The tweebs let him in and seemed to be overjoyed to see him. He had a pleasant chatter with them while he walked into the kitchen. Mr. Dr. P was reading his paper at the table and Mrs. Dr. P was at the stove. She glanced up and started to greet him as she returned her attention to the skillet. Then she suddenly spun back towards him.

"Ronald," she gasped, "what has happened to you?"

Mr. Dr. P put his paper down and looked at Ron. He also seemed very interested in his daughter's friend.

Ron checked himself over quickly. _Yes I remembered to wear pants so it isn't a repeat of _that_ incident. Shoes match and are on the correct feet. Shirt is right-side out and not on backwards._

"Mrs. Dr. P?" He didn't know what was wrong with him.

"Your nose is crooked, your neck is a good inch wider and your shoulders have broadened out since the last time I saw you."

He was flustered. "I'm…er…uh," he stammered.

"Ron joined the wrestling team last month," said Kim as she came into the kitchen. She flashed Ron a huge grin before sitting down to eat. Ron smiled back; it was the first time that Kim had said the 'w' word without getting angry with him.

"That explains it," said Mr. Dr. P, "I was friends with a couple of wrestlers back in high school and they all had much thicker necks than they should have had. Their faces seemed to be constantly changing during the season. Have you had the first, what to they call it, 'challenge session' yet?"

"Yesterday Dr. P."

"How'd you do?"

"I'm the second stringer at 126."

"How many in the weight class?"

"Four total."

"Good job!"

"Thanks, Dr. P."

"Have you eaten yet?" Asked Mrs. Dr. P.

"Did so, thank you for asking."

While Kim ate, her parents had a pleasant chat with Ron, catching up with what he was up to these days. Kim actually learned more about her friend from their discrete grilling. Finally, Kim was ready to go and the two teens were off to school.

"Ron," Kim asked once they were out of the house, "are you really the second out of four guys in your weight class?"

"Yes."

"Second string means that if the starter gets hurt or sick you're varsity?"

Ron was stunned. He hadn't realized how close he had come to representing his school. "Yes."

"Second string means that if the starter gets hurt or sick you're working out with the wrestling team _every_ day?" Kim was looking upset again.

Ron sighed. _Why can't it be 'one more _win_ and you're on the varsity?'_ "Yes, Kim and I was planning on talking to you about it either during this walk to school or tonight during practice."

"Why not last night?"

"You were obviously upset last night and besides what would you have done overnight?"

Kim glared at him for several steps before regaining her temper. "You're right, I wouldn't have handled it well last night."

"Feel like talking about it now? For whatever it's worth you look a whole lot better this morning."

Kim flashed a sad smile, "No, not ready at this time. What all were you planning on telling me?"

"Well Kim, the coach talked to me after the matches last night and he said that I had a good chance of making the varsity sometime this year. He said that perhaps I should talk to you about finding a backup for me as the mascot." Ron had selectively edited the conversation.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Are you sure? You're not exaggerating again are you?"

Ron's temper flared. "Is it so hard for you to believe that I can be even a little bit successful? Can't you believe that I can be good at something without you babysitting me?" Ron clamped his jaw back down. What had he just done?

Kim's eyes flew wide and her mouth hung open. "Ron, I…"

"Kim, I'm sorry that I blew up like that. I'm not bragging. I'm just repeating what the coach told me."

"This isn't just an excuse to avoid m…the squad?"

"Not at all. Look KP, you have alternate cheerleaders in case one of you gets injured. Why not an alternate mascot? "

"Why do you start spewing logic every time I start to get mad?"

"It's less painful than any alternative. Look Kim, I can help train any alternates if you'd like."

"I'd like that; see you at practice?"

"You know it!"

By then they had reached school and it was time for Ron to leave her with her boyfriend. And to perhaps do a bit of pre-class flirting.


	10. Change Becomes Evident

**Chapter 9: Change Becomes Evident**

By lunchtime it was clear that Kim still had all of her old energy. Most school bulletin boards had posters announcing auditions for the new mascot next Friday and welcoming interested parties to watch the drills this Friday afternoon. Rumors had started. Ron honestly didn't know if he was happy that the squad still wanted a mascot or if he was peeved that he was being replaced. So he had a rather wistful expression on his face as he settled down at his usual table. Oscar, Felix and Monique quickly joined him while he unpacked his lunch.

"So blondie," Kim's best girlfriend asked Ron, "what's up with you getting replaced? So far the gossip has either Bonnie getting to you enough for you to quit or Kim getting ticked off at you and kicking you off."

"What's your call?" Ron asked. He liked making Monique try to decipher the gossip she collected.

"It's gotta be something else. That thick hide of yours just lets Bonnie's shots bounce off and you aren't beat up enough for Kim to have gotten that mad at you."

"So far so good but I'm going to keep you guessing."

"No Fair! I'm the reporter not the detective!"

"I'll spill since Ron won't." Oscar chimed in. "It turns out that the so-called 'loser' is a pretty good wrestler. He's a shoe-in to make the varsity team before too much longer and he's a good enough guy to help the cheerleading squad adjust to it."

Monique and Felix both stared at Ron. "Is that right?" Monique asked Ron.

"AIDP, Monique," said Ron. "I had a good night, don't read too much into it."

"AIDP?" Asked Monique.

"Amp it down please. I don't want a repeat of when I was rich or when I got that haircut. I've let things like this go to my head before. If I make the 'A' team then I'll make it. I don't need to be telling everyone how good I am before I've proven anything."

Monique's jaw dropped. "Kim said you were showing a real grown-up attitude, what happened to the loveable blowhard I used to know?"

_Being in love with a girl I can never tell does that to a guy._ He thought, then he said, "I'm sure it's sunspots, something in the air, or maybe some side-effect of the last Drakken device we blew up. Don't worry, the same childish braggart will probably be back before too much longer."

"I hope not," said Monique. "I like _this_ new Ron. Ron felt better than he had in a long time until….

"Hey loser!' Bonnie marched up to Ron's table. "Have you finally decided to quit the squad and give us a _real_ mascot or has Possible finally come to her senses and ditched her dog?"

There were giggles from the cheerleaders' tables as Ron answered. "Ah, Bon-Bon, I had almost forgotten my place. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you climbing all the way down from your ivory tower just to make sure I know my place in the world. And to think that you care so much about me that you've come over here when you'll see me at practice in three short hours anyway! Thank you, thank you, I'd kiss your feet but I wouldn't want you to catch my loser cooties."

Bonnie could only stare at him. Stoppable didn't talk back when she called him a loser!

"But since you haven't climbed back to Snobville yet, you must want your questions answered. No, I haven't quit the squad since I soooo desperately need to see you at least once a week. I can't go a full week without being reminded that I'm a loser and I can't count on you to be able to consistently take time away from admiring your non-odiferous excrement to take care of it. As for Kim, since you've left the table where she's eating I'll have to assume that she _has_ released her dog."

Ron was ready to really catch it for that last remark. The handful of tables that held the cheerleaders and their boyfriends were silent. A quiet tittering whispered into existence throughout the rest of the lunchroom. It grew into all out laughter, then APPLAUSE! Bonnie just stood there, spluttering.

"LOSER!" She screamed, then stormed back to her table.

Ron allowed himself ten minutes of gloating about putting Bonnie in her place before he went into damage control mode. For the rest of the day, whenever anybody brought up the incident, he would simply say, "sorry, just lost my head there." Yet somehow Ron felt better about himself. So many people had applauded him when he knocked Bonnie down a notch! Maybe she wasn't the all-powerful queen that she seemed. Maybe he wasn't the absolute pariah that he thought. He expected to catch it, physically, in some hallway for the rest of the day. He was surprised to find out that nobody seemed to be so fond of Bonnie that they would call him out over the incident.

Armed with this new attitude, Ron screwed up his courage and asked Sue out on a date for the following Saturday. He was pleasantly surprised that she accepted with a smile and a blush. So Ron Stoppable had a foolish grin and a happy heart when he floated into cheerleading practice.


	11. Decisive Action

**Chapter 10: Decisive Action**

KP, however, wasn't about to let the incident go without dealing with it at cheerleading practice. Ron had showed up and gotten changed before the rest of the squad, as usual. As was his habit he then grabbed a dry mop and swept the area where the squad would be practicing. The Middleton High Gym saw a lot of activity during the day and the slight loss of traction caused by just a little bit of dirt or water could be disastrous for a cheerleading squad performing high-end gymnastic routines or pyramids. He then grabbed a few practice mats and laid them out nearby, in case they were needed for new tumbling routines. He had just filled up a mop bucket with a disinfecting solution, for the mats, when the rest of the squad showed up. Kim called them all together. Mrs. Johnson, the faculty coach for the squad, stayed back and let Kim take care of things.

"Okay everyone," she snapped once the squad was assembled, "we all know about the little incident in the Lunchroom today. I've let this petty bickering and back stabbing to go on LONG ENOUGH! I am doing something about this right now. Bonnie, Ron, both of you come out here! Ron and Bonnie tiptoed nervously out to Kim.

"You first," Kim marched up face to face with Bonnie. "If I EVER catch you using the term 'loser', 'dog', 'idiot' or ANY derogatory term to describe ANY member of this squad, on school grounds or at a school function you are OFF this squad! Do you understand me?" Bonnie managed a weak nod, her eyes very wide.

"And for you," Kim spun and faced Ron, "If you EVER use the term 'ivory tower', 'Snobville', or any other insulting term for this squad YOU are off this squad! Do YOU understand me?"

"Completely." Ron replied.

"I have already spoken to Coach Winters. This rule stays in effect for both of you even if Ron leaves this squad. If either of you makes a scene like you did today, you will be either suspended or expelled from any team either of you is on. Am I clear?"

Both Ron and Bonnie nodded.

"Now for everybody else," Kim spun to the assembled squad, "there will be no more incidents like today in the Lunchroom from anybody here. This squad has won the last eight major competitions we have entered and I WILL NOT HAVE US TEARING EACH OTHER DOWN! We've got a good squad and I will not let personal conflicts break this squad apart. We, myself included, have all been warned. Mrs. Johnson will either suspend or expel me if I act up and I will do the same for any of you. DO YOU ALL UNDERSTAND?"

Stunned nods from the entire squad.

"I hope that we can all be friends but if we can't I'll have to settle for us all being civil to each other. I don't care what you think about me; or what you call me off of school grounds and away from school functions. But the minute we start representing this school, Miss Manners comes into play. Can we all agree to this?"

Everyone nodded.

"For you over there," she addressed the half-dozen or so students who had assembled to watch the squad practice. "Some of you have already showed an interest in trying out to be the mascot. I want to assure you that this little drama is NOT typical for our practices. Something happened and I had to deal with it. Bonnie, please return to your seat. Ron, please continue to clean the mats."

Kim relaxed and resumed her normal tone. "Now it's time for rumor control. You prospective mascots will also want to hear this. Our current mascot joined the wrestling team and is pretty good at it. Coach Winters and I have agreed to share his services as long as he isn't a varsity wrestler. Coach Winters has stated that if Ron makes the varsity squad he will either become a full time wrestler or quit the team. Ron has already indicated that he will choose wrestling over cheerleading in that case."

Several of the squad gave small, surprised gasps. Ron wondered if they were surprised that he was good at something or indignant that anybody would choose anything over the squad.

"Ron," she continued, "has offered to help train his replacements in order to prepare for the time that he might leave the squad. So now that the rumors have been addressed I have one last action to take with regards to the verbal sniping. I heard a whole lot of giggling and gossiping from this squad during the incident in the Lunchroom. Obviously everyone has just too much energy if we're wasting it on encouraging that sort of behavior." Kim favored the squad with a truly evil grin. "This practice is going to take care of that." The squad sucked in a collective breath.

"As for you prospective mascots," she continued, "watch the current mascot at work. Once we're done, ask yourself if you really want to put yourself through this." Ron stifled a groan. This practice wasn't going to be fun for anybody.


	12. Aftermath of Decisive Action

**Chapter 11: Aftermath of Decisive Action**

Ron slouched out of the locker room and into the gym. The practice had been every bit as rough as he thought it would be. Because of this his usual 10 minutes to shower and change had taken him closer to 20. He was tired. He was surprised to see Kim waiting for him. She had been so mad earlier that he was expecting to walk home alone.

"Ready?" The redhead asked him.

"Absolutely, homeward bound."

The two walked for several minutes in uncomfortable silence. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Ron could tell that Kim had been ready to talk several times, but had hesitated. She finally took the plunge.

"Aren't you going to complain about how hard I just drilled you?"

"How can I," Ron answered, "you worked everybody, yourself included, just as hard."

"Are you sore?"

"Not as sore as I will be tomorrow."

Kim looked at him for a moment. "You really have changed," she mused, "at the beginning of this year you would have been complaining. You would have at least brought up the fact that Bonnie had started the argument." Ron didn't trust himself to answer.

"You know I really didn't want to threaten you…" Kim seemed at a loss of words.

"Kim," Ron interjected, "You did what you had to do. The mascot and one of your squad members had just cranked it up more than was acceptable. You took the appropriate action."

"You _still_ don't consider yourself part of the squad?" Kim looked upset.

"You've always said that I was a member, but you're the only one. Look, why don't we discuss the prospective mascots? I noticed that three were still willing to talk to you after witnessing your torture session."

Kim let out a wicked giggle. "Right, there's Ruth, Julie, and Lisa. So, as the expert mascot, what are your first impressions?"

Ron forced himself to be honest. "We need to put the suit on them and run them through the paces of course, but here's what I think. I think that Ruth and Julie are probably the best fit. They're both alternate cheerleaders, so they're up on the routines."

"Good point," said Kim, "continue."

"Next is Julie. She's on the gymnastics team so she can probably do acrobatics that I can only dream of. Her problem is that she's awfully small. It'll be interesting to see how much wearing the suit and mask will cut her agility."

"I think that you're a better acrobat than you give yourself credit for, but you've got a good point about her size. Not to mention you've always been able to act as a base to our towers. I don't know if she's that strong."

"Awkward alert!" Ron called. "But let's get back to the issue. Any of the three will give you one big advantage over me."

"What's that?" Kim's voice had a wary edge.

Ron took a deep breath. "The fact that they are all either very, or somewhat popular. Their presence on the squad will be more in line with the food chain than mine ever was."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Will you come off your fix with the food chain? It isn't important."

"Kim, I know that you don't flaunt your position but the fact is that the food chain does exist. You telling me that it doesn't matter would be like me telling Felix that legs are overrated. Or either one of us telling a bald guy that hair isn't that big of a deal. The rest of the squad will give you a lot less grief for having any of those three around than you've been catching for keeping me around."

"Ron, how many times do I have to tell you that the food chain doesn't matter to me? I want what's best for the squad and you're it." Kim's temper was rising.

"KP, you can either ignore the food chain or make it work for you. While the food chain doesn't help someone do flips or the splits it does affect the squad dynamic. I've been a pretty good mascot but you've been working harder than you should in order to keep the squad from tearing into me. Any of the three prospective mascots will mean less hassle, for you, from Bonnie and her bunch."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to keep bringing up the food chain. It has NO EFFECT."

Ron stared at her for a long moment. "You don't even realize what effect it has on you, do you?"

"It has NO effect on me!" Green eyes were getting narrow and dangerous.

"Then can you explain why you took NO action, for years, when a food chain elite kept cutting away at a bottom feeder, but the day that bottom feeder snapped back at the elite, in front of the entire school, there was hell to pay?" Ron clamped his jaw down again. Would he _ever_ learn to keep his mouth shut?

Kim had stopped cold. It looked like anger and sorrow were having a fight to see who could challenge shock as her chosen expression. Ron was really hoping for sorrow. If sorrow was to lose he really hoped shock would be able to fend off the challenge. He was in no condition to deal with and angry Kim right now.

"Sorry, KP." He said, hoping for damage control. "Look, I'm still an immature jerk a lot of the time. All we're doing is making each other angry. It's Friday night, I'm beat and you've probably got a date. I won't be able to sleep if I'm any more wound up and I'm sure that Josh won't appreciate a peeved girlfriend so why don't we just call it an evening? If you want to hang, just call on Sunday."

"I don't have a…" Kim stammered, then caught herself. "You're probably right." She moved to walk toward her house then stopped. "You ARE still on if a mission comes up, aren't you?"

"You know I've always got your back."

"Thanks, Ron."


	13. Sudden Mission

**Chapter 12: Sudden Mission**

Ron tried to ignore the sounds of fighting behind him while he sprinted down the narrow cavern. The control center was ahead somewhere and he had a mission. It was hard to believe that it was just a little earlier this evening that he had snapped at Kim about the food chain. He was actually grateful for this mission. It let them do what they did so well.

Wade, working with Global Justice, had uncovered Drakken's latest scheme. He was apparently building some sort of device which could affect the earth's magnetic field in such a way that he would be able to subject any chosen part of the globe to intense electromagnetic fields. While this wouldn't injure people it could, in theory, destroy unprotected semiconductors in the chosen area. While this wouldn't cause direct casualties, the loss of microchip function would have disastrous military and economic consequences. This threat would then allow Drakken to extort whichever organization he wished.

With the plot unearthed, Global Justice sent in Team Possible to confirm and/or neutralize the threat. Kim and Ron had infiltrated deep into Drakken's current hideaway before running into Shego. Fortunately Ron had earlier talked Kim into having him carry a spare set of their demolition equipment. While she didn't trust him to not mess up, she relented when he pointed out that it wouldn't hurt to have a backup set. Kim had also been surprised at the amount of attention he had paid to the briefing. Because of this, when Kim engaged Shego, Ron skulked out of the combat zone, closing in on the point where the satellite telemetry had located the major power fluctuations. It was Ron's intention to locate the device and disable it before reinforcements could show up and help Shego overwhelm Kim.

Ron had to hurry, so when he swept through a narrow point and found himself in a control room with Drakken and two burly guards, he saw no need to scream and panic. He simply charged in and did his job. When the first guard closed on Ron, the teen quickly dropped into a very low crouch and delivered a straight kick to his opponent's knee, breaking the joint. Ron then jumped up and hit the second man with a knee strike to his chin, dropping him to the floor with glazed eyes. Drakken, who had his mouth open and no doubt ready to make some comment about 'The Buffoon,' observed how Ron had eliminated two guards in a matter of seconds, turned and ran.

Ron did a baseball slide maneuver and caught the mad scientist in a leg scissors. Drakken fell flat on his face. Ron was on him in a moment, pressing his face into the floor to keep him from getting up. Now Ron was faced with a dilemma: while he could handle injuring someone actively fighting him, like the guards, the thought of pounding on the helpless Drakken grated on his sense of honor. But he couldn't just let him loose, he needed a few undisturbed minutes to disable the device, which he could now see through an adjoining window.

Ron couldn't find anything that he could use to restrain the villain. Thinking quickly, he came up with an alternative.

Kim had been fighting Shego for only a few minutes when, from the passage Ron had slipped down, an unknown voice screamed in pain. Both Shego and Kim ignored the potential distraction. Then Drakken's voice came from the same direction.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOI…….AIEeeeeee!"

The last scream trailed away in volume, but rising in pitch. The first voice gasped out curses while Drakken babbled in an incomprehensible, soprano whine.

"Hold on, Princess!" Shego dropped into a defensive stance. "Just where is the buffoon?"

"I thought we just heard him squeal." Kim launched a combination side kick and back fist. Shego dodged the kick and blocked the fist.

"Oh, good one," Shego retorted, going back on the offensive. "Let me rephrase that one. Where's your distraction?"

"Can't find a date?"

"Catty, princess, very catty."

Shego clearly wanted to break off the fight and run down the passage, but Kim pressed the action until…

Ron burst out of the passageway, catching Shego off guard. The boy slammed the open end of a sack-like object over Shego's head and down her torso. Kim thought she recognized the 'sack' but she couldn't quite place it. Shego's angry face popped out of the top while Ron jumped clear.

"Mission complete, KP," he panted. "Extraction on site in ninety seconds."

Kim wasn't used to taking orders from Ron but decided to trust him. If there was one thing Ron was good at, it was breaking things. Kim turned and ran with him while Shego's bellowed threats mixed with Drakken's squeaks for assistance.

"What happened to Drakken?" She asked as they sprinted for the high ledge they had scoped out earlier.

"Long story, that coat isn't going to hold Shego for long."

"Right, we can debrief on the transport."

For some reason, Ron looked uncomfortable with the term 'debrief.'

The rest of the extraction was anti-climatic. Rufus was on the hovership, which pulled up close to a high ledge so that the two teens could vault from the ledge and into the side hatch. As soon as they were inside, the hatch slammed shut and the pilot hammered the throttles, getting them clear of the area.

The two teenagers took a few minutes to catch their breath, then asked each other about injuries. Once both were certain that there was nothing beyond the odd bruise and scrape, Ron dug through his cargo pockets while reporting to Kim.

"First, I connected Wade's extractor to the control console. According to the readout, it pulled all operational information out of Drakken's systems and downloaded the logic bomb."

Ron produced the electronic device, which was about the size of a hand calculator.

"We can send the data to Wade and Global Justice simultaneously."

"Good work, partner, how about the device itself?" Kim wanted to know.

"I set up the automatic camera and recorded myself placing and activating the thermite grenades."

Ron held up a digital camera.

"Trying to make a name for yourself?" Kim didn't want Ron to start getting bigheaded again.

"Not really, I see too much of me in the mirror every day. But we can send the video along with the data. Seeing me in the video will give the GJ experts a good size reference, and they'll be able to gauge the level of damage we've managed."

"I hadn't thought about that. Good idea, send the data and again, partner, good work."

"Thanks, boss. How'd you manage with Shego?"

Ron started connecting the two devices to the ship's transmitter while Kim answered.

"Quit calling me boss," Kim replied. "We did the usual. Inflicted a lot of scrapes and bruises on each other, traded a few nasty comments, but you finished before we had a chance to really get going. Was that Drakken's trench coat you used to bag her?"

"Yeah, I figured he'd have made it resistant to her plasma bolts. She's gonna really be mad at me now, isn't she?"

"Probably, but take it as a compliment."

"That I do," replied Ron, as he finished connecting the extractor and the camera to the communications console. "All I gotta do now is open a channel and send the info."

Kim watched him with something close to awe while he worked the controls. Half a year ago he wouldn't have had a clue as to what he was doing. While he wasn't exactly quick at the equipment he was at least going about the task in a deliberate manner. He was clearly trying to step up. "By the way," she continued, "what did you do to Drakken?"

"I…er….I….uh….Channel established! Starting data transmission."

"Ron." Kim was using a warning voice.

"I…er…I…uh." Was all Ron managed before the communication console indicated in incoming call.

"Shego's calling us," Ron noted. "What could she have to say?"

Kim stepped into the camera's pickup before connecting the incoming call. Ron stayed on the sidelines.

Shego's usual scowl was replaced with an amused smirk.

"Hey princess," she said. "Thought I'd pass a little bit of etiquette for your sidekick."

"And what's that, Shego?" Kim responded.

"Tell your distraction that wedgies are considered really low form at our level."

Kim spun to look at Ron who, although out of the camera's path, still looked decidedly uncomfortable.

Seeing her reaction, Shego made a deduction. "Hey hero," she said, "you must be where you can hear me! You're gonna pay for that trick with the trench coat, but I gotta admit, you've got style."

Her smirk burst into a full out grin. "Giving him the wedgie, and tying his hands and feet behind him with the waistband was some piece of work. Every time he's tried to move, something has either gotten chafed, or something else has slid up where it doesn't belong. But you're also gonna pay for the fact that I've seen more than enough blue butt to last a lifetime."

Ron stepped into the camera's range. "So how'd his debriefing go?" He asked.

"That pun is also low form for our level, but for your information it's going on now."

The mercenary looked to her left, to something out of her camera's view. Kim and Ron heard Drakken's soprano voice.

"Cut the band. Cut the band. Cut it. Cut it cut it cut it."

Snip.

SNAP!

"OWIEEEEeeeee!"

Shego's eyes bulged for a second or two, then Drakken's voice came back on.

"No, no! Don't pull that out. No, no, nononononono!"

"WHYYAHAHEIEEEEeeeeee…..Eeeeeeewwwwwww."

Shego's mouth hung open in disbelief.

"I…gotta...go." She muttered, reaching for her off button.

It took her three tries to find it.

Kim killed the line and gave Ron a hard look.

"Well….I…er…uh." Was all he could manage.

"Ron." Kim said in a measured voice.

"Um…eh….haha. Oh! Transmission to GJ and Wade is complete! Wade's got our ETA and he'll let our parents know." Ron busied himself disconnecting the extractor and the camera from the communications console and packing them away.

"RON STOPPABLE!" Kim wouldn't be sidetracked. "WHAT POSSESSED YOU TO PULL THAT STUNT?"

Ron took a calming breath. "It's like this," he said, "I had tackled Drakken but I needed time to deal with the device. I just couldn't hit him when he was down and I couldn't find anything to tie him up with. I was going to use his coat but then realized it would probably be better used on Shego. That's when it hit me."

Kim managed to glare at Ron for all of twelve seconds before breaking out in laughter.

"I've got to hand it to you," she gasped. "I was about to be real mad, thinking you were goofing off again while I was fighting. But that actually made sense and you finished the job faster than I had anticipated."

"Thanks, KP."

"What is our ETA for home?"

"Two hours, fifty-two minutes."

"Are you going to make some good use of this time?"

"I've got a history exam on Monday. I've got my books and want to spend about an hour or so studying. Then I think a major nap is in order." After all, he had a date tonight.

"You are getting more mature!"

"Thanks Boss."

"RON!"

"KP."


	14. Next Challenge Match

**Chapter 13: Next Challenge Match**

Ron stood out on the mat at one end of The Pit, across the circle from Randy. It was Thursday, two weeks from the mission during which Ron had given one of the most wanted criminals on the planet a wedgie. A short time ago, Coach Winters had officially moved Ron into the 132-pound weight class. When you move to a new weight class you start at the bottom so Coach Winters had placed Ron's name below Randy and Owen. A few minutes ago Ron had beaten Owen to rise to 2nd string. Now he was challenging Randy for the varsity spot.

You needed to beat the current varsity wrestler twice in order to take the spot. Ron was surprised that he really wanted to be varsity. The past two weeks had seen the team wrestle two duels and two tournaments. One of the tournaments had been for only the varsity while the other had been held for non-varsity wrestlers. Ron had wrestled a total of seven matches and had won six of them. The first one had been close. He had been so nervous that he had quite literally forgotten to move, until his opponent had thrown him to his back much like Dave had done two weeks ago. Yet he had snapped out of it and had managed a win.

Both Coach Winters and Oscar had sat Ron down after that match. They all shared a laugh and the two had told Ron to relax on the mat and just wrestle like he had trained. It had felt good to laugh. It was the first time Ron could remember laughing like that. They all agreed that he had done something foolish but they were laughing at his actions, not at him. They all knew that he would never do it again. The matches had been good for Ron. He was now comfortable tangling with an opponent out on the mat.

So here he was, across the circle from Randy. Coach was the referee and Bruce was timing challenge matches just like last time. Bruce blew the whistle and the match was on. Ron took Oscar's advice; have a plan and execute it fast and hard. Don't give your opponent time to execute his plan. The two boys closed in on each other. Randy wanted to tie up but Ron refused. As Randy reached in, Ron blocked his hand up hard, similar to a martial arts Up-Block. Ron had a clear path to Randy's legs for just a moment.

A moment was all Ron needed. He shot a Double-Leg at Randy, using all of the speed and acceleration that two-plus years of tangling with super-villains can grant a teenager. Randy was too slow in reacting, Ron's shoulder hammered into his stomach and he staggered backwards. Ron didn't bother with the traditional 'lift and drop' finish to the Double-Leg; he had momentum and used it. He kept driving forward and swept one foot around and behind Randy's legs. Randy tripped and fell backwards. Ron was on top of him immediately, sliding a Half-Nelson around Randy's neck while he was still flailing and halfway to his back already. Ron quickly used the hold to force his opponent the rest of the way over. Randy tried to bridge his shoulders up but Ron kept his full weight on him and used his hold to pull up on Randy's head. Randy could only hold his bridge for a few seconds before Ron forced his shoulders down to the mat. Coach Winter's slapped the mat. Ron had won by pinfall.

The coach had two other boys wrestle a challenge match, in order to give Randy and Ron a chance to catch their breath before bringing them back out to the mat. "Okay you two," he said, "the winner of this match is the varsity 132-pounder." With that he had the boys shake hands and stand on the circle.

Bruce blew the whistle and it was on again. As Ron closed in on Randy he could see a look of resignation on his opponent's face. It was a shocking moment for Ron; the first time an opponent knew that he, Ron Stoppable, the neo-loser, was better at something. Randy made a fake for Ron's head then attempted a shot at Ron's legs. Ron reacted with the quick reflexes gained by over two years as Kim's sidekick, sprawling back with the agility of the school mascot and a practitioner of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. Randy's move didn't have a chance of succeeding.

Ron's Cross-Face stopped Randy well short of his legs. Ron reached his left arm out and caught Randy's right ankle. Ron then used his Cross-Face as a lever, forcing Randy and himself to spin in a clockwise direction. Ron knew that Randy just wouldn't be able to match his spinning speed since he had control of one of Randy's arms (using the Cross-Face) and had a hold of one of Randy's ankles. It would only be a short time before Randy would be forced to collapse to the mat. Randy surprised Ron by moving his left leg forward and digging in his foot to resist the spin.

Ron reacted before either he or Randy could think about it. He let go of Randy's ankle and reached his left hand up inside of Randy's left knee to his left arm. Ron's right hand had a hold of Randy's left arm in a cross face, now that Ron's left hand also had a grip on Randy's left arm (by reaching up between Randy's legs) Randy was caught in a Cradle. Ron held on tight and rolled over, bringing Randy along and onto his back.

Randy desperately tried to break Ron's grip, trying to extend his body against Ron's confining hold. Ron kept his lower leg away and brought his upper knee up under Randy's butt, confining him further, reinforcing his hold, and tilting Randy even further up on his shoulders. The more Randy fought, the tighter Ron clamped down until:

Coach Winters slapped the mat to indicate the pin. Ron released Randy and jumped to his feet. He was just about to pump his arm in victory when he saw the expression on Randy's face. Instead of celebrating, Ron helped Randy up and encouraged him to practice hard and try to beat him during the next challenge. Ron had too much personal experience with losing to take pleasure in someone else's loss. Randy managed a weak smile, and congratulations, during the handshake. Then the coach raised Ron's hand to applause from the surrounding wrestlers. Ron was now Middleton's varsity, 132-pound wrestler.

"_Oh, snap!"_ Ron thought, while several of his teammates surrounded him and congratulated him, "_I don't think Kim expected me to make varsity this soon! I can even screw up a win."_


	15. Dealing with Success

**Chapter 14: Dealing with Success**

Saturday afternoon at the Middleton High Gym, two days after Ron Stoppable told Kim Possible that he had earned a varsity position on the wrestling team. Ron's ears were still ringing from the ensuing discussion. Saying that Kim was unhappy about Ron leaving the squad was like calling Death Valley an uncomfortably warm and dry depression. Now she had to spend a Saturday afternoon judging the replacement mascots. She wasn't the only one upset.

The cheerleading squad wouldn't be happy to be in the gym on a Saturday afternoon. They hadn't expected it before Friday. How could Ron Stoppable be successful enough as a wrestler to leave the squad? Even with this, how could he give up his regular association with _them_ to practice a sport that received almost no recognition in the school? And finally, he was a good mascot. True, the students at the football and basketball games loved their routines, but they also enjoyed the silly, acrobatic antics of the Mad Dog. How could he walk away from all of that?

As promised, Ron had arrived before the squad and did some warm ups with his three prospective replacements. All of them had a great deal of respect for him, as a mascot and acrobat, after the first time he had worked out with them. And they all appreciated the fact that he was trying to help each of them become the best that they could, within each of their limitations of size, athleticism, and time. Ron helped them each go through their prepared routine and then he called them together before the squad arrived.

"Everybody, I really appreciate you all trying out. I hope that I've been able to help you out." There were nods and murmurs of thanks from the three. "I need to ask you all a favor. I would like the two of you that aren't selected to keep with the program. I think that all of you realize how easy it is to get injured doing this, not to mention what could happen if someone was to get sick." More nods. "There is, of course, one other reason."

Ron took a deep breath, and double-checked to make sure that none of the squad had arrived yet. "This is a very competitive squad and they weren't exactly thrilled with gaining a mascot two years ago. They're all perfectionists and they've never been shy about letting me know when I've screwed up. Some have been more outspoken than others." The three girls in front of him stifled giggles. They knew whom he was talking about. "I'm not trying to be insulting,but it's inevitable that the new mascot will make an occasional error and while I'm hoping that they'll go easier on you than they have on me, they might not. I'm hoping that the three of you can stick together and help each other through any such experiences."

"Anyway, they'll be here in a few minutes. Even though I'm not the Mad Dog anymore, I just want you all to know that if you have any questions or want any help, just let me know. I'll do whatever I can for you. Even though I'm leaving the squad, I still want the squad to do well."

Ruth, Julie, and Lisa all looked at Ron. Finally, Ruth broke the silence. "Just let me say this Ron. You've always done your best for this squad and I think that at least some of the members have really treated you like crap. Good luck as a wrestler." The two others agreed with her.

Their appreciation gave Ron a warm feeling throughout the evaluations, even though he received icy glares from the entire squad. While the cheerleaders jotted down observations and kept scores, Ron jotted down the imperfections in their routines. When the routines were done, the cheerleaders gathered together too select the new Mad Dog. Ron gathered the contestants together and went over their routines, in order to keep them from thinking too much about it. Finally, Kim approached the group.

"Thank you all for coming today," she said, "we have made our decision. We have selected Julie as the new mascot. We would also like all three of you to keep working out with the squad. I'd like for you three to leave now, so that the rest of the squad can have a word, in private, with our former mascot." Ron flinched.

Finally, Ron stood facing Kim, Bonnie, Tara, Hope, and Marcella. "You all know that Ron is my best friend," Kim announced, "and the rest of you seemed to want a word with him. Trust me, he's heard me speak my mind so ladies, I will leave it up to you."

For several long seconds nobody said anything. Finally Bonnie started it. "Why?" She asked.

"Why what?" Asked Ron.

"Why leave? Why are you leaving the squad now, when we have a competition over the Holiday Break? Why leave us with a brand new mascot and no time to train her?" Bonnie was growling the words.

Ron took a deep breath. "I didn't intend to let the squad down. I just thought that I wasn't that bad of an athlete and I wanted to prove it. So I found a team that I could join without bringing it down. It turns out that I'm the best this school can put on the mat at 132, so I'm going to contribute."

"What about us?" Bonnie asked. "What about _our_ team?"

Ron spoke before he had a full grip on his temper. "What about you? I seem to remember about six months of you making sure I knew that you never wanted a mascot in the first place. Then about a year and a half of you making sure I knew that I was the last person you wanted in that suit. Now you've gotten your wish, aren't you happy?"

It was complete silence for several long seconds. Bonnie was unable to meet Ron's eyes. Finally Hope spoke up.

"I'll admit that some of us," a hard look at Bonnie, "gave you a rough time. But you've put in over two years! Doesn't two years with this team mean anything to you?"

By now Ron's temper was well up and he wasn't even trying to control it. "Team? It sure wasn't _my_ team! I came in here and gave you the best I had for over two years. What did I get in return? My _teammates_ won't even acknowledge I exist when we aren't performing routines or practicing. In fact the only time my _teammates_ ever acknowledged me during practice was when I screwed up, and then they could only tell me what an idiot and buffoon I was. Competitions were even better. How many times did I hear my _teammates_ tell the other squads that I was only there because I was the captain's best friend? The trips were the best yet. Kim was the only one who would even sit near me on the busses and vans! Why? Do I have body odor? I don't think so since you only told me that I stunk in a figurative sense. Did I talk too much? I don't think so since I learned fairly early on to never say anything. So why did my _teammates_, with the exception of the friend I had before I started, never want anything to do with me?"

Ron stood there looking at the five girls. Now none of them, not even Kim, seemed willing to meet his eyes. Time ticked on. Finally Ron got tired of it all. "Fine," he said, "since you are asking me why I am doing this I'll be the self-centered, childish jerk you all consider me."

Looking around, Ron spotted a dry-erase board, with some pens, hung on a nearby wall. He strode to the board and grabbed one of the pens. He drew a vertical line down the center of the board then wrote a "W" at the top of the board, on one side of the line and a "C" on the other side.

"Let's score this out," he said. "First lets talk about making me a good teammate. When I screwed up, the cheerleaders told me how worthless I was. The wrestlers tell me what I have to do to be better." Ron put an "X" on the "W" side of the line. "Next comes recognition. When I do well, the other wrestlers tell me I've done a good job. You know pats on the back and handshakes? The cheerleaders just ignored me." Ron put another "X" on the "W" side. "Now lets talk about friendship. You might have heard about my little tussle in D Hall a month back? Two of my teammates stepped up and backed me up. Whenever I so much as said hello in the hall to one of my cheerleader _teammates_, you would just glare at me for having the gall to speak to you." A third "X" joined the other two. Ron put the pen back then turned to look at the squad again.

"Can any of you," he asked, "really say that you would stay with this squad if you were in my shoes?"

None of the cheerleaders said a word. A couple of lower lips quivered. Ron regained control of his temper.

"I really want this squad to do well." He told them. "I'm willing to keep working with the new mascot if you all think that it will help. The fact is that I am a pretty good wrestler and I enjoy the sport. My teammates want me around and think that I'm going to be an asset to the team. So I'm sticking with them."

Nobody seemed to have anything to say so Ron, with a voice quivering with his emotions, asked, "Kim, can we go now? I've got things I want to do, and I'm sure that all of you do as well."

"Does anybody have anything to say?" Kim asked, in a very weak voice. Nobody did, so Kim said, "so that's it then. Our next practice is Monday, and we have a game to perform at on Wednesday."

"Good luck, everyone." Said Ron. Then he headed to the Locker Room without a backward glance.

For several minutes after he left, nobody on the squad either moved or spoke. Some shoes were shuffled and some sniffles were heard. Finally Tara spoke up. "The wrestler's have a home match on Tuesday. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm going to see how my teammate does with his new team."


	16. Clothes Shopping

**Chapter 15: Clothes Shopping.**

Kim wasn't waiting for Ron when he finished dressing. He didn't expect her to be. He did his best to calm himself down while he walked home. Once home, Ron dropped off his workout clothes, jumped on his scooter and made for the mall. Once at the mall it was straight to Club Banana, where he ignored all of the other salespeople until Monique was free. "Hey Monique," he greeted her, "I'm in desperate need of a fashion genius. Know of any within, say, two feet of me right now?"

Monique had to laugh at him. "What can a I do for you, Ron?"

Ron pulled out the money he had set aside for this little venture. "Here is my budget. What can you do with this goofy, weird lump of adolescent insecurity within the confines of this cash, this store, and one hour?"

Monique counted the money and gave him a long, mischievous look. "You know, I've been hearing about a certain blonde wrestler who's been seeing a certain brown-haired clarinet player for a couple of weeks now." She motioned him to follow her to the Men's Section.

"Do tell, any juicy rumors?" He asked. Ron was surprised that he liked playing this little game with her.

"Rumor has it that he's a real gent, and she's crushing on him big time."

"Sounds interesting, anything else?"

"Yeah, this blonde wrestler just might be at the point where he wants to go beyond casual dating and see about being her bona-fide boyfriend."

"Oooh, that sounds hot! Think he's got any chance at it?"

"I'd say so, if certain mutual friends can be believed. She's got it bad and he can really make her laugh and feel special. Now, if he were to show up with these slacks and this shirt, it sure wouldn't hurt."

"Show up with them, or show up wearing them?"

Monique laughed. "Wearing them, of course! Now, if rumor is true, tonight is going to be date night."

"Rumors might be true!"

"Rumor also has it that these two like the dinner then a movie thing, followed by a quiet walk back home."

"The wrestler definitely does, and I...er…he hopes that the clarinet player does as well."

Monique smiled again, continuing to lead him through the section. "Rumor says that she does. Anyway, the wrestler's budget also includes some nice shoes and _this_ oversized coat." She held up a stylish black parka a couple of sizes too big for him. "It's going to be chilly tonight, so if the wrestler and the clarinet player were to find themselves, say in the park, a big, baggy coat on the wrestler might keep them both toasty."

"I like the way you think, expert."

"Part of the job, now get your skinny butt in the dressing room. I know you couldn't tell a good fit from bad one, so put 'em on and let me size you up."

"You want to size me up? But Monique, I think of you as a _friend_!"

"Just put on the clothes! And Ron?"

"Yes?"

"Good luck."

"With the fit or the girl?"

"Ron!"

"Putting them on."

Monique saw Ron off, with more good-natured banter. She had to chuckle. Ron might be a goof and a klutz, but he was a great friend. He was also lonely in the female companion department so she hoped Sue and he would become an item. On her next break, she grabbed her cell, found some privacy, and called her best bud.

"Hey girlfriend, you free tonight? You ARE? I thought you and….. OH REALLY, need a shoulder? GOOD, I'm off at eight, wanna meet for dinner at nine? Oh and Kim, I've got some REALLY great gossip for you!


	17. Date 1, Dinner Date

**Chapter 16: Date #1, Dinner Date**

Riverna's Restaurant, a 'somewhat' formal dining establishment, not far from the Middleton Mall. All manners of dinners could be found during the day. The majority wore business casual but the jeans and tee crowd didn't feel terribly out of place. It was a favorite spot for dating teens for whom fast food wasn't quite right but formal dining was too pretentious. It was also a fine place for two fashionable teenaged girls to meet for a late night meal, heart pouring, and gossip.

"So it's over between you two?" Monique asked.

"For over a week now," Kim answered, "to be honest, we've really been limping along for a couple of weeks before that. Josh isn't a bad guy and he IS hot but we just ran out of things to talk about."

"Why do you want to be talking with that fine specimen? I could think of a lot more fun things to do with that boy!"

"Monique!" Kim blushed. "The lip locking was nice but it only kept us together for the first couple of weeks, you know? After that I started to realize that we really didn't have that much in common. He likes art and music, I like cheerleading and saving the world. We didn't even have classes together so the normal, teen homework sessions weren't in the cards. To be honest, it was only Ron pushing us together that made it last this long."

"Ron did that for you?"

"Can you believe it?" Kim shook her head with a wondrous smile. "Ron was a real jerk to Josh when we first started, even though he set us up for our first date. But after he came back from Japan he was all 'schedule your couple time and fit the friend time around it.' Josh and I were so surprised! He even walked right up and apologized to Josh. I think that the two of us stayed together just because he was trying so hard to keep us together."

Monique frowned slightly. "Girlfriend, I've seen a lot of BF/GF couples stick together a lot longer than a couple of weeks even though they didn't have anything in common. You and Josh are both HOT! You sure there wasn't anything else breaking you two up?"

Kim gave her a sad smile. "Sometimes you're just too smart. The fact is that I'm not an easy girl to date. Not only am I so busy with my classes, the squad, and my other school activities, but I do go running off at odd times to save the world and my best friend and assistant happens to be a guy. A lot of boys find that a real turn-off. Josh is really into his band and his art. He wasn't willing to schedule his interests around mine and I wasn't ready to give up my interests for him."

"So now you're into the 'mope a bit and move on' stage?"

Kim smiled. "I've actually gotten over that stage already. Like I said we broke it off a week ago and it was as good as over for at least two weeks before that."

Monique looked at her friend. "So what's got you all sad then? You're really in a funk right now."

Kim's expression fell. "It's Ron."

"Ron?"

"Yeah, you know how I said he was a jerk for the first couple of weeks?" Monique nodded. "I think that I was being just as much of a jerk as he was. Friday nights were always 'Kim and Ron' nights and I cut that off when I started dating Josh. Not only that but I really pushed him away almost all of the time. I was being a crummy friend. It hasn't been the same with us since."

"You miss that goof?" Monique was priming the gossip pump.

"Boyfriends will come and boyfriends will go but Ron's been my closest friend for more than half my life. There were times that I'd be soooo wound up from a rough week in school and he'd have me laughing for hours every Friday. I could talk to him about anything, at any time. Now he seems to be avoiding me. Oh, he stops by if I ask him to, he walks with me to and from school and he's always on for the missions but it just isn't the same. I want my best friend back."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"No, I was planning on talking to him tonight. I had tried calling him just before you called me but he wasn't at home. To be honest I've also been a jerk about his wrestling. It seems really important to him but I can't help but think he's using it as an excuse to avoid me. Of course, before today I didn't really appreciate how much grief he was taking as the mascot."

Monique nodded. One of the first topics of conversation had been Ron's confrontation with the squad. "That really isn't like him, standing up for himself, is it?" She asked the head cheerleader.

"That's another thing that's changed about him since he joined the wrestling team. He stands up for himself. He fights back pretty well against the goons in D Hall and he stands up to me when I start running over him. And don't forget him and Bonnie in the Lunchroom."

Monique smiled wide, "I don't think anybody will forget that! But speaking of the skinny blond boy, do I have some news for you!"


	18. Date 2, Dinner and a Movie

**Chapter 17: Date #2, Dinner and a Movie**

The Middleton Mall's theater multiplex. The romantic comedy playing in Theater #2 had just ended. Among the audience exiting the theater was a teenage couple consisting of a brown-haired girl and a blonde boy in an oversized parka. Stepping outside, the boy offered his arm in a rather old-fashioned show of etiquette. The girl took the proffered arm in both of hers and the two strolled towards Middleton Park at a casual pace.

Both seemed to want to say something. After several false starts, Sue broke the ice.

"I've really enjoyed this evening, Ron." She said.

"Me too," Ron answered, "I enjoyed the movie, I'm glad you recommended it."

"You did? It didn't seem like much of a guy show to me."

"I'll admit that I wouldn't have gone to see it myself but I enjoyed it." Ron screwed up his courage. "Of course, the company was excellent."

Sue blushed and leaned her head against his arm. "Same here," she whispered.

_Don't screw this up, Stoppable._ Ron thought to himself. "W-Would you like to head straight home or hang out for a bit?"

Sue checked her watch. "My curfew is in about an hour, so we have about forty-five minutes before we have to head home. How about a quiet walk through the park?"

"No fair! You took my suggestion away from me." Ron groused. Sue giggled a little. It was a beautiful, if cold night. The season's first snowfall, earlier that day, had left about three inches of light snow on the ground and trees. For two teenagers who had grown up in the Midwest there was no hardship, just a sort of sparkling fairyland.

The two spent about fifteen minutes walking through the park, enjoying the company. Both were ready to continue speaking at several points but neither could bring themselves to start. Finally they had followed the sidewalk up a slight rise to where several benches looked over the rest of the park. The park was well lit and glistening in the new snowfall. The two stood there, staring out.

"Chilly?" Ron asked.

"Just a little."

"May I?" Ron unzipped his oversized parka and held it open while turning towards her. Sue got the picture and blushed as she stepped up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he engulfed her with the coat. It didn't fit completely around them both but she was warmer. She idly wondered how much of the warmth was due to the coat.

"Sue?" Ron asked. She tilted her head up to meet his gaze. They were very close. "I-I gotta say this. I have absolutely zero experience in the dating and girlfriend departments. I think that you're a wonderful and beautiful person and I really like you. I think that I should be doing something right now but I really don't know if it's right."

Sue smiled and blushed again. "You've done right by me so far."

Ron took a deep breath, lowered his face and kissed her on the lips.

Sue's hands released his waist and slid up to his chest. _She's going to push me away!_ Ron thought as he released the kiss and pulled his head back. Her hands continued up, out of the collar of his parka. _She's going to slap me! But why is she smiling? Is she going to enjoy hurting m-_ Ron's thoughts promptly stopped when Sue's hands slid behind his head then pulled him down into a long, lingering kiss.

Ron closed his eyes and wrapped his arms tightly around her slender waist. His brain retained just enough synaptic activity to recognize the fact that this was his first _real_ kiss and that he was really enjoying it. Her hands held him tight, her lips were parting…."

Footsteps sounded from close by. A familiar voice. "Oh! Excuse m-…RON?"


	19. Dates Converge

**Chapter 18: Dates Converge**

Kim and Monique, deep in animated conversation, had just left Riverna's.

"I still don't believe it!" Kim's eyes were still wide.

"Goes to show what happens when you aren't paying attention, girl." Monique's voice was smug.

"Ron! My Ron! Dating! Dressing up! And maybe even a steady?" Kim's brain had clearly not digested everything.

"Didn't I promise you some news that would absolutely rock you?"

"Yeah but Ron, dating." Kim would have been ready to hear about the financial breakdown of the entire Club Banana Corporation, but this! This was shocking!

"What's so hard to believe?" Monique asked her. "He's a teenage boy after all. You might not have noticed but he is kind of cute and he's got a halfway decent body. All that time being the mascot and wrestling has really firmed that boy up. Then after receiving the benefit of MY expert fashion advice… Let's just say that it was only the fact that I was his professional fashion consultant kept me from making a play myself. Ethics, you know."

"Mon!!!"

Monique couldn't stop laughing. "Girlfriend, it's getting late and you've just had a jolt to your system. I'll walk you to the bus stop and we can talk tomorrow."

The two girls headed through the park for the bus stop. While Kim was perfectly capable of getting on the bus herself, Monique decided that she needed company due to the shocking news. Halfway through the park, Monique's cell rang. Monique looked at the ID.

"It's my mom," she said, "she must want to make sure I'm on my way home."

"We're almost to the stop anyway," said Kim. "I can go the rest of the way on my own. I'll call you tomorrow."

Monique waved to her while Kim left for the stop. She followed the sidewalk around a corner and nearly bumped into a young couple engaged in a display of affection. "Oh! Excuse m-", Kim said, then the young man's blonde hair looked familiar. Kim suddenly realized that he was "RON?"

Ron and Sue spun to face Kim; their arms still around each other.

"Kim?" Said Ron.

"Ron?" Said both Kim and Sue, looking at each other.

"Kim, Sue, Sue, Kim." Said Ron, shifting his glance between the two.

"Kim." Said Sue.

"Sue." Said Kim.

Then both girls faced Ron. "Ron?" They asked, at the same time.

"Kim," said Ron very pointedly, with a meaningful glance at Sue.

"RON!" Kim snapped back in a tone of indignant surprise.

"Kim!" Snapped Monique, just arriving on the scene.

"Monique?" Said Sue and Ron.

"Sue, Ron." Monique greeted the couple.

"Monique!" Said Kim, with a wide-eyed look at the couple.

"Kiiimmm." Monique replied, with a 'D'uh' expression.

"Monique!" Kim replied, staring flabbergasted at her friend.

"Kim." Monique said firmly, steering her friend back towards the bus stop and getting her moving. "Ron, Sue." She nodded to the couple as she and Kim left.

"Monique." The couple nodded back. Once they were out of sight, Sue turned back towards Ron. "Ron?" She asked.

"Let's not start that again," he answered. "Should I just walk you home now? I think we've lost the momentum."

Sue giggled, blushed, and slid reluctantly out of Ron's coat. The two hesitated before putting their arms around each other and strolling towards Sue's home. "By the way," she asked, "just what was that back there?"

Ron thought for a moment before replying. "That was the fourth weirdest conversation I've ever been in."

"Fourth?"

"Okay, maybe tied for third."

In the meantime, Monique had forcefully delivered Kim to the bus stop. "Now," she said, "can you get off the bus, at the right stop, by yourself or do you need me to take care of that?"

"Monique." Kim replied, with confused, wide eyes.

"Let's not start that again," said Monique. "Didn't I tell you that Ron was a guy? Just because you've never thought of him that way doesn't mean every girl's been blind."

Kim shook her head. "But what were they doing back there?"

Monique just gave Kim a level look.

"Oh!" Blushed Kim. "They were…" Monique nodded. "Then I…" Monique nodded again. "Ron's gonna be mad."

"Looks like I'm not the only one you better call tomorrow." Said Monique. "You gonna be okay now?"

Kim nodded. "I just want to go home."


	20. First Match

**Chapter 19: First Match**

Kim walked into the Middleton High Gymnasium and showed the man in the ticket booth her student pass. It was Tuesday night, three days after she had interrupted her best friend's first kiss. Tonight Ron would wrestle his first varsity match and Kim intended to be there no matter how awkweird things between them had become. The varsity teams were warming up on the mat as she walked into the main Gym. Looking around, she spotted Felix up on a balcony with a video camera. She went up and joined him.

"Hi, Felix," she greeted him, "what are you doing up here?"

"Oh, hi Kim. I'm taping the matches. The guys like to go over them to find out what they can do better."

"How did you get roped into this job?"

"Ron asked me, Oscar and him got into the habit when the season started. Coach found out and asked me to tape all of the matches. Since I was here anyway to watch Ron, it wasn't any trouble."

Kim fought down a rush of guilt. Ron was her best friend and she hadn't even bothered to show up for any of his matches! Sure they were only 'B' matches but _he_ had always been there for _her_ whenever he could. Her guilt trip was cut short when Monique showed up.

"Hey girlfriend," Monique greeted her, "come to see what kind of moves your partner has? Or have you come to admire his butt in that tight uniform?"

"Monique!" Kim couldn't do much more that blush.

Monique and Felix both laughed at Kim. Kim glanced around the auditorium. There weren't as many people in the audience as would be here for a basketball game so she was able to spot Tara, Hope, and Marcella sitting in a small group, right behind the wrestling cheerleaders. They would undoubtedly add their voices to their fellow cheerleaders' chants during the matches. Kim thought about joining them then decided against it. She wasn't an 'official' cheerleader for this event and she had a good view of the mat, with a couple of friends, where she was.

The teams lined up on opposite sides of the mat. An announcer called off each weight class then the two opponents at that weight class. As each boy's name was called he would run to the center of the mat, shake hands with his opponent, then run back. After all of the competitors had been introduced the teams lined up again and faced the flag. The pep band wasn't present so instead of standing for the National Anthem, the cheerleader's led the audience in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. That done the matches started with the lightest weight class.

Much to her surprise, Kim enjoyed watching the matches. Her kung-fu training allowed her to appreciate the combination of speed, strength, and skill that the boys brought to bear against each other. While wrestling wasn't a combat sport, (no sport with rules is really a combat sport) she could easily grasp the concepts of body control, leverage, strength-to-weight ratio and quick reactions that the sport honed. If one of the combatants managed to move a hand as much as six inches it could alter the entire match. Middleton wrestlers won three of the first five matches. It was now Ron's turn.

Back on the Middleton side of the mat, Ron had been keeping himself stretched and warmed up. Dave had just pinned his opponent at 126. Oscar got right in Ron's face while the ref raised Dave's hand.

"Don't be nervous," he said, "this is just another match. You're NOT going out there because someone else is sick or hurt. You're going out there because you're the BEST that this school can put on the mat." Ron nodded. "Now you know what you wanna do?"

Ron nodded again. He had worked out his best moves well before match time.

"Just go out there and do it to him so fast and so strong that he won't be able to do anything back!"

Ron was ready. He pulled off his sweats, snapped on his headgear and ran out to meet his opponent, sharing a high five with Dave as they passed each other. He shook hands with his opponent and retreated to the Middleton side of the circle. The ref held one hand out between the boys, the other up. Both boys tensed for the confrontation.

Kim didn't know why she was surprised by the way Ron looked. She knew that he had to have an athletic build. After all, how many teens (besides her) regularly snorkeled across two miles of open ocean, then scaled a sixty foot cliff, then low-crawled through two hundred yards of ductwork, then dodged a half dozen hired thugs to reach some fiendish device, then sprinted a quarter mile to escape said device's explosion? How many teens could do the acrobatic stunts he did, while wearing a full Mad Dog costume? She _was_ surprised by the amount of lean muscle he had put on his frame. His demeanor also surprised her. He moved forward with no hesitation and engaged his opponent when the ref started the match.

Ron moved forward and hand-sparred with his opponent. Both boys were trying to catch and control each other's wrists. Ron made a quick circle to his opponent's left side. The other boy circled to face him. As he did so, he stepped forward with his right foot. Ron pounced.

_He's fast!_ Kim thought. As soon as Ron's opponent had stepped forward Ron had made a fast move opposite the direction they had been circling, sweeping low and extending his long right arm. A split-second later he was back on his feet with his opponent's right foot in his hand. The other boy hadn't been able to shift his weight fast enough to dodge Ron.

Ron didn't hesitate after his Ankle-Sweep had worked. Just like when he had wrestled Dave, he pulled his opponent in and tripped his left foot. The other boy fell but unlike Dave, he didn't manage to completely scissor his hips. Ron lunged up the other boy's body, secured a Half-Nelson and turned him the rest of the way onto his back.

Kim was amazed at how quickly Ron had gained the upper hand. The other boy had been caught off guard for only a moment and was now in big trouble. Ron had him on his back and was putting all of his weight on him, trying to break down his desperate bridge. The cheerleader's took up a chant of "Pin…Pin…Pin." Kim found herself joining in. Ron's opponent tried shifting to both sides. Ron kept tightening his hold until…

The referee slapped the mat and blew his whistle. Ron looked at him, surprised, for a moment before releasing his opponent and jumping gleefully to his feet. He quickly got himself under control and helped the other boy up. The two boys returned the circle and shook hands. The referee held up Ron's hand while the announcer said "Winner…by pin…from Middleton…Ron Stoppable." The crowd cheered. Kim and Monique both jumped up and down while Felix pumped his arms.

Ron had won his first varsity match with style.


	21. Victory Aftermath

**Chapter 20: Victory Aftermath**

As Ron returned to the sidelines after his victory, several of his teammates picked him up and carried him off of the mat. Kim wondered about this but since nobody else seemed worried about it she didn't make anything of it. She watched the rest of the matches with less interest. At the conclusion of the heavyweight match, Middleton had managed a twelve point team victory. The wrestlers from both teams came out on the mat and everyone shook hands with everyone on the opposing team. Then they all started to head in the general direction of their Locker Rooms, chattering with each other on the way. The Middleton 'B' wrestlers came out and started to put away the chairs, warm up mats, and the main mat.

Kim, Monique, and Felix headed down to the main floor. Felix had a special crawler attachment on his wheelchair that took the stairs almost as fast as someone walking, so the two girls were only slightly slowed by waiting for him. Felix zipped off immediately to deliver the camera to Coach Winters. Kim spotted Ron speaking to his parents, Oscar, and a man who must have been Oscar's father. Kim decided to give her friend a few minutes with his 'rents so she went to chat with Cindy, the head of the wrestling cheerleaders.

Technically Kim was the captain of all of the Middleton Cheerleaders, which included those who cheered at the wrestling matches. Kim, however, didn't pay very much attention to this squad. The large wresting mats took up so much space on the floor that the cheerleaders didn't have enough room to perform the acrobatics and towers that Kim associated with cheering. Instead this squad spent most of their time kneeling on large cushions next to the mat leading the crowd's cheers. Cindy had just finished chatting with one of the opposing team's cheerleaders when Kim caught up with her.

"Oh, hi Kim." Cindy greeted her, "come to check up on how we're doing?"

"Not really," Kim replied, "I know you have it covered." Cindy grinned. "You've cheered at wrestling matches since you were a freshman so you know good wrestlers. Just how good is Ron?"

"I've seen all of his matches so far. He's good, but he isn't very polished yet. He's got good strength, great reactions, and almost unbelievable speed. His biggest problem is that he doesn't have much experience. He hasn't gotten to the point where he just _reacts_ with the proper move rather than thinking it through. He won this match easily but he has problems with opponents who have more experience and are quick enough to counter his speed."

"Would you say that he's an asset to the wrestling team?"

'THAT'S an understatement. He's good right now. Considering that he only started a couple of months ago, he's amazing. He's going to get better. Why?"

"I'm just trying to make myself feel better. He gave up being our mascot for this and I wanted to see it was a good call on his part. By the way, what was with him getting carried off of the mat?"

"Tradition. You get carried off when you get your first varsity pin. One of us will also decorate a safety pin for him to wear on his sweats. They get one for each pin they score."

"A pin for each pin, cute."

By now Ron had finished with his parents and he and Oscar were heading for the Home Locker Room. Kim headed to intercept them. She saw Felix, Monique, Tara, Hope, and Marcella just ahead of her, intent on the same thing. The six of them converged on the two wrestlers. Felix, Monique, and the cheerleaders all congratulated Ron on his victory. Oscar stood there for a few minutes, looking out of place. When he turned to go to the Locker Room Ron introduced him to the others.

"So," Kim said after the introductions were over, "I understand that we have YOU to thank for our mascot leaving us." Oscar looked very uncomfortable. He made a few attempts to say something but couldn't seem to find anything to say. Finally Monique came to his rescue.

"Kim, you're evil." She said, "country gentlemen take strangers at their word. Oscar, she's messing with your head."

Kim grinned. "Sorry Oscar I just couldn't resist. Seriously though, Ron tells me that you've really been working with him." Then she looked at Ron, hoping to put a _major_ apology into a single glance. "We didn't really appreciate his hard work when he was our mascot. It's good to see that you guys seem to appreciate his hard work and are helping him succeed."

The rest of the squad agreed with Kim. Hope, Marcella and Tara all had sad expressions. Seeing this, Ron chimed in, "Ladies, we won the match! Why are the state's finest cheerleaders moping over a victory? I'll be sure to be watching you tomorrow."

THAT cheered up the squad. They were just leaving the two wrestlers when Sue appeared out of nowhere. "Good job," she said to Ron, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Are we still on for Algebra homework tonight?"

"Just give me five minutes to shower and I'm all yours!" He happily declared. "Felix, ladies, if you don't mind, I have some homework to take care of."

Hope, Marcella, and Tara all had stunned expressions. Yet the three, with Felix, Monique and Kim all nodded. Ron and Oscar hurried to the Locker Room. Sue found a seat on the nearby bleachers. Monique and Felix excused themselves and left.

And the rest of the cheerleaders subjected Kim to a severe grilling as soon as they got away from Sue.


	22. Surveillance

**Chapter 21: Surveillance**

Friday morning Kim found herself walking to school with Ron just like she had Wednesday and Thursday. Despite her best efforts, Ron had refused to divulge any deep details about his status with Sue. As promised, he had attended Wednesday's game. Sue had played in the band at halftime and had joined Ron after the band was finished. The rest of the squad had noticed this and most of them were every bit as curious about the couple as Kim was. When any of them had asked Ron about his dating life he had stated that a gentleman just didn't discuss such things.

Ron didn't hang around at Kim's locker like he used to, even though had she told him that she and Josh had broken up. Kim had trailed him and spotted him at his own locker, chatting with Sue. At lunchtimes, Kim and Ron's usual booth was full. Ron and Sue sat on one side of the table, Oscar and Monique sat on the other side of the table, and Felix parked his wheelchair along the outside edge. Several other wrestlers sat in the booths around Ron's.

Kim sat at one of the cheerleaders' tables reminding herself that _she_ had quit sitting with _Ron_ in order to sit with Josh, weeks ago. It really shouldn't be irritating her that he had managed to find more friends in the meantime. She tried to keep an eye on Ron without being obvious. She also watched him whenever she could throughout the school days. He and Sue weren't advertising the fact but if you looked close you could tell that they were a couple. They smiled, they stole glances at each other and they stayed close to each other. It made Kim want to gag until she realized that Ron had probably gone through the same thing with her several boyfriends and/or crushes.

After practice, she, Hope, Marcella, and Tara would spend a few minutes comparing notes. It was both amusing and frustrating. Amusing because the squad had never paid much attention to Ron while he was one of them but he was a major topic of discussion now that he was gone. Frustrating because none of them could dig up much in the way of details about Ron's relationship. Unknown to Kim, it wasn't just students showing an interest in Ron.

"Hey Doc, got a minute?" Shego's voice blared over the speaker in Doctor Drakken's laboratory.

"Does it matter if I do or not?" The blue-tinted mad scientist snapped back. "If you intend to mock me just get it over with! I'm quite busy with my latest effort and only have a limited amount of time to devote to your entertainment!"

"Whoa-ho Doc! I'm not making fun of you, at least not yet. Tell you what, I've put together a little video surveillance compilation. Once you bust free, buzz me. I think you'll be interested in what I've found."

"Truth be told I am really only reviewing what some of my…agents…are doing at this time. What is the subject of your presentation?"

"Team Possible! Look Doc, I know you're working on another 'take over the world' plan. I also know that you've got some sort of 'neutralize the princess' research going on as well. I've got something for you to see that might help that research."

Dr. Drakken cupped his chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Very well Shego, if you have this compilation on the server come to my lab and we shall review it."

"I'll grab the popcorn and be right there!"

Dr. Drakken honestly wondered if she was kidding about the popcorn.

She wasn't. To be truthful, the bad doctor didn't mind munching on a few handfuls of the snack while reviewing Shego's research. This research consisted of surveillance video of their most recent encounters with Team Possible as well as pirated video of a simple high school wrestling match. Although he recognized the boy in the gold wrestling uniform as Possible's sidekick he didn't see the point of the video. He admitted as much to Shego.

"You're the egghead," she explained, "while I'm the security expert. Look at these clips in chronological order. See how the sidekick gets just a little bit better every time? On this first clip he just ran and screamed. By the last one, the time he gave you that wedgie, he took out you and two of your guards in a matter of seconds."

"Why did you include his wrestling match? While I admit he defeated his opponent quickly that other boy could hardly be a valid comparison to one of the guards, or to you."

"I just wanted you to get a look at him. Look at how that kid's filled out over the last couple of months. He's gone from being 'The Buffoon' to a bona fide assistant to the princess."

"I can see that but what's the point? He is still not your match. I believe you could easily defeat him so why should I worry about it?"

Shego took a long breath. "Let me put this in more educated terms." She thought for a minute or two. "Okay, here goes. The sidekick's value to the princess has never been his direct operational capability. Oh, he's always had some limited value. I mean, he's always had a few moves that would always come out when nobody expected it. But his value has always been his ability to enhance her abilities. He gets to the device while we try to deal with her or he distracts us while she completes the mission. That has always been his role and as much as we belittle him it has contributed to her success."

"Point taken, please continue."

"Now, this 'enhancement factor' has been acquiring real operational capabilities. Look at his speed in the match and look at how quickly he took down those two guards. Now he isn't anywhere near my, or the princess's ability, but he's someone to be reckoned with. Add to this is the fact that he still enhances her abilities. The result is an even more formidable team."

Drakken replayed some of the footage. "Yes, now I see what you mean. May I assume that you have a suggestion?"

"Just this, I'll bet that you're putting a great deal of research into finding an effective, discrete way of neutralizing the princess when you execute your latest plan. If you've already spent months coming up with a plan for her, maybe a couple of hours spent on him will be time well spent. Eliminate the team, not just the star."

Drakken gazed up at the ceiling, lost in thought for several minutes. "Yes," he finally said. "This is quite good advice. Indeed, most of my research for neutralizing Miss Possible is already complete. I shall simply change a few parameters in order to deal with the sidekick. After all, anything capable of counteracting Possible will be more than enough to deal with, what is his name again?"

"Stoppable, Ron Stoppable."

"Won't it be most ironic that the first time he hears me say his real name will be when I stand over his cowering, completely defeated form, shortly after my plans come to completion?"


	23. Almost Winter Break

**Chapter 22: Almost Winter Break**

Ron and Oscar knuckled down and faced the challenge. It would take hard work and commitment. It would take time and effort. But they knew that they were up to the trial. They were friends and teammates! They had faced adversity before. They would not be beaten by this foe! Sharing a look of grim determination, they went to work.

They both pulled their American Government textbooks out of their backpacks and opened them on the Dinning Room Table at Ron's House. Tomorrow was the final exam, the last final of the semester for both of them. This exam would take place tomorrow morning and there were no classes scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. After the exam there would be eleven, consecutive, glorious _days with no school_!

The two teenagers spent the next hour reviewing the semester's coursework. They retook all of their tests and reviewed each chapter's summary, quizzing each other on the material. Oscar had always been a pretty good student and Ron's attitude towards education had changed since his return from Japan, so the boys were fairly well up on the subject anyway. With an hour of concentrated study time, they were confident of the outcome of tomorrow's test. Then they turned their attention to other matters.

"She likes you, you know." Ron told his friend as they chilled out to a game of _Zombie Mayhem, the Lemming Horde_.

"I thought she was paying quite a bit of attention to me but I'm really pathetic when it comes to girls. I really don't know what to do about it." Oscar answered, barely avoiding being overwhelmed by a swarm of undead, suicidal, Scandinavian rodents.

"Just ask her out! It isn't that difficult."

"This from the guy who flirted with his girlfriend for a full month before he found the guts? I don't even have the 'flirt around the locker' deal to work with here. I don't know where to go or what to do for dating around these parts."

"Didn't you say you had a girlfriend back in North Dakota? What did the two of you do back there? HA! The Ronman has come to play!"

"Never thought I'd meet my end at the hands (paws?) Of a skeletal varmint with a kamikaze complex. But seriously, we both loved to go out and plunk prairie dogs. Her dad had a ranch and an infestation and we spent many a Sunday afternoon with a picnic lunch, under a shade tree, with .22s, popping the critters."

"I don't think you'll read about _that_ in many romance novels." Ron chuckled, then started another game. "That's weird even by _my_ standards. By the way, prepare for another lesson in humiliation."

"Now you know why I'm nervous about asking Cindy out. Helen and I really knew each other and liked the same things. Both of us loved to go hunting, fishing, swimming in the Missouri, biking, you name it. I really miss her at times. But we both know that with us being teenagers and with me moving out here it was over. I still trade emails with her every week or so. She's found a new boyfriend, I wonder if she can outshoot him by as much as she could outshoot me."

Ron chuckled again. "And you wonder if she didn't give you a massive case of the weirds that'll scare off any other girl?"

Oscar winced. "There is that. I really don't know how to act around a…well…_normal_ girl. Cindy sure seems nice so I don't want her to think that I'm a psycho. Maybe a little odd, which is true, but not a psycho."

Ron snorted. "I've got an idea, since Sue and Cindy are pals, why don't we set up some sort of double date? After all, Cindy told Sue that she had a crush on you. I'm pretty sure she knew that Sue would tell me and that I would tell you."

"I'd appreciate that," Oscar said, "do you have any ideas…Hey wait a minute!"

"What, did you see the Magical Lemming of Unavoidable Doom?"

"No, no, not the game, I just had an idea about the date! You know I work out at Randall's Stables three days a week?"

"Yeah."

"Here's my idea." Oscar spent a few minutes explaining his idea to Ron even though it cost him another lost game.

"That's a great idea! I'll call Sue right now. We'll keep it a surprise for the two of them. This Saturday?"

"You bet."

Within a few minutes Ron was back in the Living Room. "It's on," he declared, "and if the Ronman's judgement can be trusted, I think a certain cheerleader is going to be completely swept off of her feet."

"As well as a clarinet player?

"A nice side effect." Grinned Ron, "Tell you what, the fillets are about thawed so why don't you try to practice up to _my_ illustrious level while I start din-" The phone interrupted him.

"Hello," Ron answered, "Oh, hey KP! Just whipping Oscar at Zombie Mayhem. Yeah, we both studied for it so we're ready. I appreciate the offer, but the two of us have to keep an eye on our weight. Hey! Tell you what, I was about to unleash my culinary genius on some walleye fillets. We have more than enough for one more and you're always welcome… KP? KP!" Ron looked up at Oscar. "I was just inviting Kim over for dinner with us when she hung up! Maybe her 'rents had something to say or maybe she's dodging the 'tweebs' latest project."

With that, Ron went into the kitchen and started to assemble his materials for his latest piece of art. Fresh walleye was really good material to work with. Here, he had a lake full of the fish not five miles away and he had never realized it. Of course, Oscar cleaning the fish was a real plus. The doorbell interrupted his plotting.

Ron answered the door to see a rather breathless Kim standing on the front step. "So you're going to try to outdo yourself?" She asked. Ron stood aside for her to come in. Looking outside, he could see a clear trail in the new fallen snow leading down the street towards her house. He reviewed the time he had spent in the kitchen. Yep, she had just enough time to put on her winter clothes and sprint all the way over. Ron couldn't hold in a grin. Even the great Kim Possible was putty in his hands once he unleashed his kitchen talents!


	24. Friend of a Friend

**Chapter 23: Friend of a Friend**

Both Kim and Oscar had, of course, been banished to the Living Room while Ron prepared dinner. While Ron would tolerate company when preparing one of his 'standard' meals, he demanded privacy to work on a masterpiece. Kim didn't mind. She had learned that the banishment and the wait were worth the results.

_And worth sprinting to his house on a winter's evening_. She reminded herself. She looked over at Oscar_. We didn't exactly get off on the right foot with me kidding him after that match_. She thought. _Since we have some time, this might be a good time to get to know my best friend's buddy._

"So Oscar," she said, "let me apologize again for kidding you after Ron's first match. I should have gotten to know you better first."

"My fault," he replied, "I'm not really that slow. I should have put it together. I'm just glad Monique was there to keep it from getting out of hand."

"True enough," Kim smiled, "So how long have you wrestled? Ron tells me that you're really good."

Oscar blushed at the compliment. "I started when I was eight years old. Ron tells me that this is about the time you started Kung-Fu."

Kim nodded. "I take it you took right to the sport?"

Oscar snorted, "Not exactly. I liked the sport from the beginning but I wasn't very good. It was a full two years before I won my first match. In a way, I'm fortunate that it didn't come naturally to me. Since I had to work for it I really _learned_ it, rather than just _doing_ it. I think that it gives me a better appreciation for the sport. How about you and Kung-Fu?"

Kim responded with a wistful smile, "Kung-Fu sort of came naturally to me. I'd just see the Sensei perform a move and I could copy it almost every time. I guess I'm lucky that way."

"It depends," Oscar replied with a strangely intent expression. "Do you practice Kung-Fu for the sake of the Kung-Fu, or do you train for the benefits?"

"My 'rents started me in it when I got into the habit of getting into fights. They wanted me to be able to control my temper and defend myself. It's only given me a little help with the first issue, but it's really helped me with the second one." She matched Oscar's expression. "Do you wrestle just for the sake of the sport?"

"I guess you could say it that way," he answered. "But I look at it as touching history. I've seen pictures of pottery from ancient Greece that show wrestlers using holds and moves very similar to the ones we use today. This sport has existed, in some form, since before anybody invented writing. I'd like to think that the sport has spent all of that time evolving, improving, and I'm receiving the benefits of over two thousand years of innovation. That's why I would love to coach at some point in my life. If I can somehow refine the sport just one little mote, and pass on what I've learned to a younger group, then I'll have given something back to it. The wins and losses just let me know if I'm a real disciple of the sport."

Kim just sat there, stunned. Spotting this, Oscar apologized. "Sorry, I get carried away with myself at times!"

"No, no," Kim replied, "there's nothing wrong with that. It's just your involvement in your sport goes so much…deeper than I would have thought." She shook her head a little. "To be honest I kind of envy you. I wish I appreciated my Kung-Fu as much as you appreciate your wrestling."

Oscar blushed a little. "Thanks, but from what Ron says, a whole lot of people appreciate your Kung-Fu skills."

It was Kim's turn to accept the compliment, "thanks yourself, but I'm at a disadvantage. You've been hanging with Ron, so you know a little about me. I don't know anything about you. What brought your family to Middleton?"

"My father works as an earthmover. He moved us here over the summer when the work started on the new wing at the space center. I understand your father is one of the lead scientists there?" Kim nodded. "Anyway, my old man really knows his way around dirt and the machines that move a lot of it. He received a promotion to foreman about the time school started. The same contractor has the contract for the new middle school, so it looks like I get to stay in Middleton for next year as well."

"What does your mother do?"

Oscar's voice dropped. "We…lost her last summer. She was a bookkeeper at an implement dealer."

Kim pressed her hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, I've…dealt with it. Dad had been a shift supervisor at a quarry back in North Dakota. When she passed away, dad needed a better job and he wanted a change of scenery. He had an old war buddy working for Mickman's Earthmoving and he told dad that they could use a good blade operator. Once we got here and dad started working, Mr. Mickman realized that dad was pretty good at what he does and hired him on permanently."

Despite his assurances, Kim wanted to change the subject. "I seem to recall you playing football during the season. I'd be sure that you would have earned a letter."

He smiled, obviously appreciating getting off _that_ topic. "I did and both Ron and I have earned wrestling letters as well. I don't know about his but mine are back on my 'I love me' wall at home."

Kim snorted at the term. "Ron earned a letter?" Then she realized that between duels and tournaments, Ron had wrestled a total of eight varsity matches. He was seven and one, with a first and a second place finish in the tournaments. He had easily scored the team points required. "Have you gotten your jacket yet?"

Oscar looked decidedly uncomfortable. "No, I don't think either Ron or I will get one."

"Why not?"

"Ron pointed it out to me. I came from a much smaller school; each of the grades at Middleton has about twice the enrollment as my entire last high school. Back there you had to get along with everyone, at least a little bit, so it just didn't happen as blatantly there as here."

"What?" Kim demanded.

"The bullying. While most of the jocks in this school are okay, it seems that almost all of the bullying means guys wearing one of those jackets mistreating guys who don't have one. The 'in' crowd really looks down at the 'other' kids in school. I sure don't want to be part of that and I don't think Ron does either."

That set Kim to thinking. Last year at this time, Ron would crow to the world about his slightest successes. He was hungry to be one of the 'in' students. Now, as a letterman, he had a route to be one of the 'in' crowd and he showed no sign of taking advantage of it. Thinking back, she couldn't recall him mentioning to anybody, other than her, that he gave Drakken a wedgie. THAT was a prime teenage bragging point.

Kim's recollections were interrupted by Ron's call; "Dinner is served!"

Dinner was every bit as good as Kim expected. A combination of the low-fat food Ron had made and the fact that her companions had two full weeks before their next weigh in meant that they could actually eat decent meals. Not a typical teenage boy amount, but still reasonable. Once dinner was over, the three teens cleaned up and Oscar quickly excused himself.

"Why did he leave so soon?" Kim asked Ron, who was starting the dishwasher.

"What's that, KP?"

"Oscar. It's only about eight and he's heading out. You and Felix would be cranking Zombie Mayhem for another couple of hours." She paused, then blushed. "He doesn't think that the two of us…? I mean, he knows about you and Sue, doesn't he?"

_Would 'the two of us' really be that terrible?_ Ron thought, then he shook his head. "He knows, in fact we've got a double date on for Saturday." Since Ron was in another room, he didn't see the glare in Kim's eyes. "He's probably heading home to work out, otherwise he gets scared."

"Scared?"

"Yeah, if he goes to bed without putting in at least one workout beyond the team practice, he has nightmares that his next opponent _did_ put in a workout that day."


	25. Double Date

**Chapter 24: Double Date**

The sleigh zipped along the snow-covered paths of Middleton Park; the horse drawing it hardly seemed to notice the weight of the four teenagers inside. Ron was feeling rather smug at the moment. He couldn't have pictured a better double date when Oscar had said that Mrs. Randall was happy to let him borrow the horse and sleigh for an evening. The night air was cold, but the four teens were dressed for it and they had blankets. As it was, the cold simply gave Ron and Sue an excuse to cuddle close, his arm around her and her head resting against his shoulder. Sue looked at him, then gave a pointed look to the front seat with a very self-satisfied grin.

Oscar had given Cindy the reigns, much to her delight, but was keeping very close in case he needed to take them back. Of course he had neglected to mention that the horse was an older one that had been pulling the sleigh for years. Yet Cindy didn't really seem to mind his close proximity. Ron and Sue could clearly see that the two were establishing much more contact than was absolutely necessary.

Ron and Sue looked at each other again with conspiratorial smiles. It looked like they had teamed up to put another couple together! It was a beautiful night. It had snowed during the morning but had cleared earlier that afternoon. The result was a clear sky full of stars shining down on an unblemished blanket of snow, which reflected the Christmas Lights from all of the decorated trees. Ron felt Sue's warm breath on his face, felt her hand rising up to the side of his head, and lowered his face to hers.

Monique gave Kim a ride back home from the mall, which gave the two teens a chance to exchange gossip. Since Kim had just purchased Ron's Christmas present it was only natural that the current topic of conversation was a blonde haired wrestler with a goofy grin.

"So how'd you make out putting 'Kim and Ron Fridays' back together?" Asked Monique.

"I didn't get around to asking. I called him Thursday evening to invite him over for dinner, since I knew his 'rents were out of town. It turns out Oscar and him were putting in a study session followed by a Zombie Mayhem competition, followed by Ron unleashing his kitchen skills on some fish fillets. He wound up inviting _me_ over for dinner and I accepted."

"I don't blame you for that but what's that have to do with Fridays?"

"After Oscar left, we were chatting a little and he let it slip that they had a double date set up for tonight."

"Girl, I'm still not seeing how that kept you from asking the boy about putting the two of you back together each Friday."

"I don't know, Monique!" Kim suddenly burst out, "for some reason, once he said that he had a date I just didn't want to talk to him anymore. I know I shouldn't act this way but it just bothers me. Here I gave him so much grief about the way he acted when I was dating Josh and I'm acting even worse."

"You're jeallin' girl," Monique concluded as she stopped at one of Middleton Park's crosswalks. A horse-drawn sleigh, carrying two couples, crossed in front of her car. "Speaking of dating, if I had a BF who took me out for something like that it'd make some major points."

Kim looked up and smiled. "Yeah, that is roman…THAT'S RON IN THE BACK SEAT!"

Monique looked closer; sure enough it was Ron and Sue snuggling in back. As the sleigh followed a curve out of site, the two shared a kiss. It wasn't an all out grope-fest but it was an arms-around, eyes-closed type of smooch. _Appropriate for the moment_, Monique thought. A snarl from right beside her spun her head around.

"What do they think they're doing?" Fumed Kim.

"That should be obvious." Monique quipped. Kim spun to glare at her. _Time to find out if she's jeallin' about the time that boys spending with Sue or jeallin' about the fact that Sue's another girl._

Monique deadpanned, "now that Ron's a wrestler, I wonder what kind of moves he's putting on her when they're alone?"

"Mon!" Kim managed a tortured squeak. "You don't think they're…"

Monique played her trump card, "and Sue plays in the band. That's probably given her some wild tongue-work that she's using on him right now."

"Aaawwpp," Kim squawked. For a moment Monique thought she was going to jump out of the car and go running after the sleigh. "Why…that...they…they're…and…"

Monique managed to find a parking space so she could take the car out of gear and collapse with laughter. "Girl," she finally managed to gasp, "you are SO jeallin' right now."

"I AM NOT!"

"Then why did you just go ballistic like that?"

"Well…I mean…I'm just worried about him."

"Worried? He sure seemed to be in good hands back there. REALLY good hands."

"MONIQUE!" Kim shrieked at her friend. "That's not funny!"

"Sure it is." Said Monique, wiping her eyes. "But really, why are you worried about him?"

"He's spending too much time with her, what about his grades?"

"Didn't you say that you talked about his report card? Didn't you say his folks were cutting him more slack because his grades have come up? If she's having any affect on his grades, it's for the better."

"Well, what if a mission comes up?"

"Then you call his cell phone and he either high-tails it to your place or he arranges for a pick-up wherever he happens to be, no different than when you were dating Josh."

"Well, it just doesn't seem right."

"That does it," Monique concluded, "I know how to prove to you, right now, that you're jeallin'. You up to a challenge?"

"Okay."

"Good, now close your eyes and focus." Kim did so. "You're not with me in this car; you're with your mother. You two stopped at that crosswalk and saw the sleigh. Only now it isn't Ron and Sue in back, it's Oscar and me. What do you do?"

"Monique!" Kim's eyes snapped open, "You have a crush on Oscar?"

"No. Just tell me what you do!"

Kim thought for a minute. "I wait until tomorrow, call you up and pump you for every little detail."

"No going ballistic like you did just now?"

"I did n-…I did go ballistic, didn't I?"

Kim took a deep breath. "I guess I'm jealous that Ron's found someone else to spend time with. I've been a hypocrite. Here I can date but I get peeved when Ron does." She snorted, "I even got jealous when he started to hang out with Felix. I've got to learn that I'm not going to be the sum and total of Ron's life."

Okay girlfriend, if you don't want to admit that YOU would like to be in that back seat with him I won't push it but when are you going to wise up and just grab that boy? Monique thought. She then said, "well, I've had my fun for the night. What say I get you home before you rip my door off?"

"Sorry Mon," Kim apologized. "I don't know what came over me."

_Both you and Ron will be a lot happier once you figure it out._


	26. Start of the New Year

**Chapter 25: Start of the New Year**

Ron had a date with Sue the Saturday before classes resumed. Her parents had told them to return to her house by 9:00 PM for an important discussion. The date had been strained since both teens were nervous about the discussion to follow. It was worse than walking to the Principal's Office after being called over the school intercom system. Neither Sue nor Ron knew of anything inappropriate that they had done.

When the two teens reached her house (at 8:45 to be safe) Sue's parent's sat them on the couch. Ron's parents then walked into the room and both teens had started to sweat bullets. Very seriously, the four adults pulled out the two teens' report cards from the previous semester. They gravely tracked the grades from mid term to the end of the semester, pointing out that both sets of grades had improved since the two had started dating. From this, the adults concluded that a great deal of the time the teens had spent together 'to study' had, in fact, been spent studying. The adults informed the teens that they had discussed the situation amongst themselves and had decided that action was required. Very seriously, the four adults informed the two teens that their Friday and Saturday curfews had just been extended by a half-hour. The adults had then laughed themselves silly at the scared teens.

The start of the new semester held two school-related opportunities, and challenges, for Ron. The first opportunity/challenge was academic. For the first time in his young life, Ron was starting a semester determined to do well. Last semester he had been holding a C average before his exchange trip to Japan. His final report card had a solid B average. This semester he would start with a good attitude, a solid work ethic and the determination to finish with a B average. He was also determined to have at least one A. (That wasn't Home Ec. related.)

The second opportunity/challenge dealt with wrestling. It was time for the final push of the season. Divisional Tournaments, of eight teams each, would be held throughout the state on the third Saturday in January. The top four wrestlers in each weight class would advance to the Regional Tournaments the following Saturday. Those wrestlers who placed in the top four at the Regional Tournaments would advance to the Sectional Tournaments, held the first Saturday in February. Finally, those wrestlers who placed in the top four at the Sectional Tournaments would compete in the State Tournament held on the third Friday and Saturday in February. Ron's goal was to place in the State Tournament.

Ron's life fell into a comfortable routine for the first two weeks of school: Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises every morning, walk to school with Kim, school until 3:30, wrestling practice in the afternoon, walk home with Kim, homework, dinner, then bed. Sue and he would get together, every other day or so, for joint homework sessions and occasional, minor necking. Fridays and/or Saturdays were date nights when Ron's tournament schedule allowed. Sundays were 'Kim and Ron' Sundays.

On Monday, the week of the Divisional Tournament, Team Possible had their first mission of the New Year. Kim and Ron were called out of school to deal with a problem at the historic, Middleton Heights Hotel. A noble couple from Europe had been staying at the hotel, while in town to tour the Space Center. While preparing for a formal reception, the lady had dropped her necklace, an expensive heirloom. The hotel, being historic, had the heating vents on the floors and the necklace had fallen into one and had tumbled down somewhere in the ductwork. Nobody knew exactly where it wound up. The maintenance staff and the couple's entourage had been arguing about the level of demolition appropriate to find and recover the item.

Enter Team Possible, one naked mole rat, a miniature safety harness, and a large spool of cord. Rufus located the necklace, put it in a padded bag, tied off the chord, and rode the bag back to the room. It had taken less than an hour. The grateful heiress insisted that Kim put the necklace on long enough for a picture. Team Possible headed back to school with good feelings all around.

The Divisional Tournament was held that Saturday. It was Middleton High's turn to host the event, so Ron was able to wrestle in front of his parents and friends. He was actually seated number one in his weight class. It was the first time anybody expected him to win anything and he didn't disappoint anybody. He pinned his first two opponents to advance to the championship round then defeated his third opponent by five points.

Wrestling tradition dictates that a cheerleader presents the "placing" wrestler with his award, along with a quick peck on the cheek. The first place wrestler also gets the chart used to record the wins and loses for his weight class. Ron's proudest moment in school was when he stepped to the top of a small stairway, just above the second-through fourth finishers, to receive his first place ribbon and chart. Cindy had presented him with his awards. Ron and the other three 'placers' stood for a few pictures (Ron's mom had taken at least a dozen shots) then stepped down to watch the rest of the matches. Ron had immediately been mugged by Felix, Kim, Monique, Sue, and his 'rents. He worked hard to avoid being arrogant about his win.

Middleton won the Divisional Tournament, a first in the history of the school. Three years ago Coach Winters had arrived and had injected his skill, energy, and enthusiasm into one of Middleton's historically weaker teams. This had resulted in four individual Divisional Champions this year: Dave, Ron, Oscar, and Bruce. All of the other Middleton wrestlers had placed in the top four. It was a dominating performance.

A week later the team traveled to Block City for the Regional Tournament where Ron was seated second in his weight class. He pinned his first opponent, defeated his second opponent by two points, and then lost the championship match by four points. The competition was getting rougher. Half of the Middleton wrestlers had failed to place and were now eliminated from the statewide competition. Dave and Oscar had placed first, Ron and Bruce had placed second. In addition Terry at 98 and Herman at 145 had taken fourth place. Middleton had won the tournament, another first in team history, but by a very slim margin.

Team Possible was called to action again late the following Tuesday night. Heavy winter rains and mudslides had required the evacuation of a portion of Lowerton. A two-year old child was missing when the evacuation was completed. Team Possible reported to the County Search and Rescue organization and was assigned the task of searching drainage culverts (taking advantage of the naked mole rat.) Kim, Ron, and Rufus spent three hours crawling through the culverts, sometimes neck deep in frigid, filthy water. Eventually another team found the child hiding in the back of a truck.

That weekend the wrestling team returned to Block City, this time for the Sectional Tournament. Ron was seated third in his weight class. He won his first match by five points and his second match by two. He then upset the second seated wrestler by two points to advance to the championship round. In the championship round he faced the same opponent (from Block City) who had beaten him at Regionals. This time the other boy pinned Ron. The team placed third, with Dave and Oscar again placing first and Ron and Bruce taking second. Terry and Herman had been eliminated.

Monday morning found Ron looking forward to the two-week break before the State Tournament. The free weekend would give him the first chance, in four weeks, to go on a real date with Sue. She understood his tournaments and they still had their study dates but Ron could detect some cooling between the two. He didn't know if this was normal or not since he had never dated before. In any case he could address it this weekend. However, The Mathter interrupted that train of thought on Friday night.

The number obsessed villain had resurrected Drakken's idea of a magnetic field manipulator. He was threatening to use the manipulator to wipe out the computers in Go City, unless the Go City Public School System immediately began to teach a number system which he had invented. Whenever he performed calculations, he couldn't decide how many decimal points to use for the value of pi, so he had developed a number system in which pi was a finite decimal. Now he wanted everyone to use this system.

Unfortunately for the villain, his lair wasn't equipped with a fusion reactor and the several hours required to charge the device from the public power grid gave Team Go enough time to come up with a pretty good plan. Team Go knew that the villain would have planned to deal with _them_ so they asked Team Possible to infiltrate the lair while they were mounting the expected assault.

The plan had worked brilliantly. Kim and Ron had caught The Mathter, alone, while his henchmen were manning the devices holding Team Go at bay. Kim beat the villain without even breaking a sweat. With his defeat, his henchmen gave up and Team Go joined Team Possible in the Control Room.

They had a scary moment when The Mathter 'Summed up' the security precautions he had incorporated into the magnetic field manipulator. According to him, any attempt to tamper with it would release what charge it had already built up, which could do a great deal of damage to nearby electronics. Rather than trying to disarm the device, Ron simply unplugged it. The Mathter had chosen to charge the device off of a simple wall outlet.

Ron was still feeling very smug Saturday night when he went to pick up Sue for their date. That smugness quickly vanished when Sue informed him that she wanted to break up.


	27. Kim and Ron Sunday

**Chapter 26: Kim and Ron Sunday**

Sunday Evening in the Possible House found Kim and Ron seated on the couch and watching a movie. Kim was working on a cup of hot chocolate while Ron, watching his weight, was sipping a cup of steaming tea. Both teens were rosy cheeked from spending a couple of hours outside in the snow.

Ron had shown up at about one and had promptly been attacked by the tweebs. As was their recent habit, they put Ron's wrestling skills to the test in a two-on-one contest. Mrs. Dr. P had told the trio to 'take it outside' and they had. While Lowerton might experience occasional, winter rain; Middleton still had a thick blanket of snow, made slightly damp by the midday sun. Kim had come out of her room to hang with her friend, only to see him outside roughhousing with her brothers.

Kim found herself giggling and watching the antics for the better part of an hour. Then she couldn't take it anymore so she dressed up warmly and went out to join in the fun. On her way out the door she spotted her 'rents also taking in the free entertainment.

As soon as Kim got outside, a four-way free-for-all snowball fight erupted. For the better part of another hour it was every youth for his or her self. Alliances between the four were formed and dissolved constantly as they threw snow, tackled and grappled each other, attempted to bury each other and generally acted foolish. Shrieking, yelling and taunting were also part of the mix. Mr. Dr. P recorded the event on video. Finally, cold and wet (especially the boys) they trooped inside. Everyone changed into dry clothing (Ron had a spare set at the Possible House), and got something hot to drink. Then Kim and Ron pulled out their schoolwork and made sure they were ready for the upcoming week.

Ron offered to cook dinner for the Possibles after he and Kim had finished their assignments. This was a win-win situation since it allowed Ron to watch what he was eating. Finally, with the meal eaten and the dishes washed, Kim and Ron had been left alone in the den. Just as the movie started, Ron confided his breakup to Kim.

"I'm sorry, Ron." Kim told him.

"Yeah, so am I. I mean, I knew it was probably going to happen, we're only 16. The odds were waaaay against us staying together until…you know. But it still tanks." A deep sigh. "We almost made it to Valentine's Day. I've never had a girlfriend over Valentine's Day."

"Did she say why she wanted to break it off?"

"Yeah, her big reason was the amount of time that you and I always spend together. She said that she didn't mind us walking to and from school, but our 'Kim and Ron Sundays' got to her. She said that your weekly date was more firm that hers."

"I'm sorry about that, Ron. Should I talk to her tomorrow? Maybe I can explain that we're not…romantically involved."

"It wouldn't do any good on the breakup front, but I appreciate the offer."

"You said that our Sunday time together was the big reason, were there any others?"

"Yeah, the missions bothered her as well. She says she _knew_ that we weren't running off to make out or anything like that. But it still bothered her that I would drop anything, anytime, to charge off with another girl." He frowned. "Not to open up old wounds, but wasn't that one of the reasons that you and Josh drifted apart?"

Kim found that thinking about her breakup didn't bother her anymore. "Yeah, that was one of the reasons."

"You know Kim, that's something I just don't understand. I mean, I can understand Sue feeling threatened by you. You're attractive, bright and popular. I just can't understand how Josh could feel threatened by me. He's handsome, artistic and in style. I'm none of the above." Ron shook his head, missing the piercing look Kim was giving him. He continued before she could speak. "Sue also said that she was starting to feel something for one of the saxophone players in the band. You know a cute, normal type of guy. I'm just glad that she broke it off with me _before_ she made a move on him."

Kim scowled. "I've never understood why girls, or boys, pull stunts like that. Sue did this the right way. I think that she made a dumb move, but she did it the right way."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "That would have had me mad. The way she did it, we were able to break off the…romantic thing and stay friends." Ron grinned at Kim. "I know that it's the 'girl' thing to say, but I said it anyway. She's a nice girl and I really do wish the best for her." He sighed, "there was really only one thing that kept it from working out."

"What's that?"

"I would have had to quit being best friends with you. No girlfriend is worth that."

Ron was staring wistfully at the TV so he missed the very warm expression on Kim's face. "KP…" Ron was a little hesitant. "I'm not trying to say anything wrong here, but you've been over this ground before. What do I do now?"

"Well, the standard reaction is to eat chocolate until you get sick. Unfortunately, you have a tournament coming up so that's not in the cards."

"Sad but true, anything else?"

"Another thing that helps is a major shopping spree. Of course you aren't much for shopping and you're still ramping up for the tournament."

"Don't be so hasty. That tournament will be finished on Saturday night and I could use at least one more decent set of clothes. If you'll be my consultant, I'll go for some clothes shopping on Sunday. Any other suggestions?"

"Yeah, you come up with all the reasons that things were just destined to not work out. The only rule is that they can't be serious reasons. Only silly, stupid, meaningless things are allowed. I'll start." Kim paused, looking up. "It just wouldn't work out because she has such dainty hands. Those big hands of yours made it look like you were holding hands with a child. It just wouldn't work out."

Ron grinned, "let me try one. Her parent's liked me. Listen to any of the 50's era rock and roll love songs on the oldie's station. Girls just don't fall for boys that their parents like. It just wouldn't work out."

"Not bad," Kim approved. "She's too thin and kind of, well, wisp-like. You're a physical guy so you need a more athletic girl. It just wouldn't work out." Kim sat back and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"The other boy, the saxophone player, was just too much for me to compete against. He has sax-appeal." Kim's sip of hot chocolate came squirting out of her nose. "It just wouldn't work out."

"Ron, ow, that was bad."

"Hey I know," Ron was on a roll. "How about just acting silly in general?" He didn't wait for an answer but jumped up and ran for the garage. He was back in a few minutes with some leftover balloons from New Years. "Mind if I use these up?"

She shook her head, then looked at the movie on the television. _Oh, Lord, he isn't going to…_

He was. _The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King_ was playing. Ron turned the volume down and ad-libbed selected dialogs after inhaling helium from the balloons. After several minutes of hearing Aragorn's stirring speeches, delivered in Ron's chipmunk-like voice with the movie as a backdrop, Kim was a helpless, giggling wreck.

_I'm supposed to be cheering _him_ up_, she thought. _But then again, making people laugh is what makes him happy. She wiped her eyes. Why did I ever let a boyfriend come between us?_


	28. Rebound Week

**Chapter 27: Rebound Week**

Ron started 'Rebound Week', as Monique called it, in fine form. The only change he made to his schedule was at lunchtime. Instead of sitting at a booth he took to sitting at a table with Oscar, Cindy, Felix, Monique and Kim. Cindy had seemed a little nervous around him at first but he quickly assured her that he had no intention of holding a grudge against Sue, much less against her. He had come a long way since the beginning of the school year and he had no intention of allowing himself to wallow in useless depression.

It wasn't as if he had much time to do so. In addition to his academics and his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises every morning, wrestling practice had become even more intense. It was the final week of the season. Coach Winters had kept eight boys, beyond the four wrestlers going to State, active on the team. The eight non-contenders had a single job; drill the four remaining wrestlers relentlessly. They took to the job with frightening enthusiasm.

Lunchtime on Wednesday found Ron sitting with his usual bunch, while he and Kim took turns relating their search and rescue efforts in Lowerton.

"By this time all three of us were pretty much worn out," Kim was saying. "I mean, we've been at it for two hours by this time. Whenever we found a culvert that we could fit through, we crawled through it end-to-end. Then we would mark the time and date on both ends with this bright red paint and head on to the next one. Whenever we found a culvert that was too small for us but large enough for a child, we tied off Rufus and sent him through. The worst were the ones where several joined up, underground. I nearly got lost but then Ron came up with the idea of 'follow the right hand wall.' It worked great."

"Video game experience," Ron replied modesty. "And nobody thought that my mastery of _Zombie Mayhem, the Endless Labyrinth_ would ever do us any good."

"Bottom line up front," Kim continued. "We were all cold, cranky and exhausted when we got to that last one and it was big. The three of us head in, the culvert's big enough that we can actually stand up and the water is about knee deep. We know that we're within a few feet of the end when we run into this huge mass of debris. Well, we know that the child just might be in this debris pile even though we really don't want to find her, if you know what I mean."

The rest of the teens nodded.

"Rufus jumped into the pile and started searching inside while Ron and I started to dig through what we could reach. That was a dumb move on our part. We shifted some of the rubbish and the current pushed it back into the pile, but in such a way that it plugged the culvert. Next thing we know the water is rising around us. So now we're trying to break through the pile to either find Rufus or to let out the water, the water is up to our necks and I'm telling Ron that we have to leave but he won't because Rufus hasn't returned."

Kim took a sip of water then continued. "What we didn't know was that Rufus had wriggled all the way through the pile and had reached the other end of the culvert. His cord was tangled up in the pile, he could hear us screaming and he thought that we were trapped. Then he saw that the entire mass was being held in place by a single branch. He bit off as much of his cord as he could, tied off to that branch, got out of the culvert and to the side and yanked."

Ron took up the story from this point. "Rufus isn't very big but he was able to shift the branch and all that water took care of the rest. The pile, with us right behind it, shot out of the culvert like a water cannon. The worst part is that someone, at sometime, had lost a fairly life-like doll in the storm-sewer system and it had wound up inside that pile. We were searching the debris when I came across it. I immediately forgot that it was way too small to be the two-year old we were searching for. I thought it was a dead infant. So I yelled out something to the effect of 'eyahaha odisisitiseeababyomygosh.' Now Kim has been with me in enough rough situations that she translated my Ronspeak into something like 'I see something that's very important to this mission but I'm gonna faint if I get anywhere near it.' She ran over, saw the doll and her eyes flew open to the size of hubcaps. She tosses me her Kimmunicator, runs up to the doll and starts performing CPR"

Kim chuckled and continued. "Of course, with all of the adrenaline in my system I didn't throw the Kimmunicator _to_ Ron, I threw it a good two feet over his head. So there we are; Ron and Rufus are trying to find the Kimmunicator in a swampy debris field while I'm trying to revive a toy. It only took a couple of minutes but it sure felt like forever. Then three things happened at once: I realized that I was resuscitating a piece of plastic, Ron found the Kimmunicator, and the call came in to call off the search."

Ron concluded the tale. "It turns out the little girl had fallen asleep in the National Guard truck when her family was evacuated. Her parent's had made sure she was on the truck, but the stress, fatigue and the fact that they had two other kids caught up with them when they reached the shelter. They didn't get her off. A couple of minutes later her parents realized she was missing and everyone started to yell for her. She woke up, assumed she was in trouble, and hid under a blanket." Ron shook his head. "It's so easy for me to see _me_ doing that at her age."

Kim and Ron shook their heads in mild embarrassment while the other four teens offered sympathetic chuckles.

"How bad were you injured?" Oscar asked. "I remember you saying that you went to-"

Oscar 's voice trailed off when he noticed someone approaching the table. Everyone looked up. They saw a graceful, beautiful, Asian girl wearing a rather short skirt. Ron stood up.

"Yori?" He said, "It's good to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"Stoppable-san," she replied with a slight bow to the table. "I do not wish to be rude to your companions but may I speak to you in private? I must discuss a matter of extreme importance to the two of us."

"Sure..uh, if everyone will excuse me?" The other five American teens nodded.

Ron followed Yori out of the Lunchroom, not noticing that the majority of the occupants were staring at the couple. Back at the table, the five remaining teens watched as the two walked out. As soon as they were gone, all five turned to each other.

"Who is she?" They all asked in unison. They all assumed identical, confused expressions.

"Ron went to Japan last semester, maybe he met her there." Monique suggested.

"Whatever, I'm looking into this." Kim stated as she got to her feet.

"Hold on girlfriend," Monique countered, "didn't Ron just agree to a private conversation?"

"Oh, I'll let them have their private conversation but I'll keep an eye on them to make sure she isn't up to something."

"What do you think is going on?" Oscar asked Kim. "You don't suppose they…" he left it hanging.

"So don't know, so don't care." Kim declared, "but anyone who comes across the ocean to see Ron is going to have to deal with me, as well." With that she packed up the last of her lunch, slung her bag over her shoulder and left via the same door Ron and Yori had.

Yori led Ron out of the school building and down the street until they were clear of anyone who could overhear them. "Ron-san," she began, "it truly pains me to meet you under these circumstances. It pains me further to involve you with our, the Yamanouchi School's, problems." Tears suddenly sprang from the usually, poised student's eyes. "But I know of nowhere else to turn." The last statement came out as a series of sobs.

Ron placed his hands, gently, on Yori's shoulders and caught her eyes with his. "Yori, you know that you only need to ask and I'll do anything to help you. What happened?"

The Japanese girl composed herself and explained. "Yesterday morning, we awoke to find the Lotus Blade missing and a note in its place. The note revealed that Lord Fisk had corrupted yet another student, who had given him the blade. The message further called upon Master Sensei to meet with Fisk, alone, some distance from the school. Master Sensei left immediately."

"Why did he do that?" Ron demanded. "He should have known that Fisk can't be trusted!"

"The message stated that if Master Sensei did not come alone and immediately, he would track down and destroy the Chosen One."

Ron was stunned speechless. Sensei had, possibly, sacrificed himself for him.

"When we realized what Sensei had done, several of us immediately banded together and left for the meeting place. When we arrived, we found signs of a very violent struggle and another message." Yori's head dropped. "Ron-san, the message said that Fisk has both Master Sensei and the Lotus Blade. It said that he was holding both of them in a simian research center outside the city of Yuma, Arizona, USA. If we wish to see either again, we must deliver the Chosen One to him." She broke out in tears again. "Oh, Ron-san! I will not turn you over to him but I do not know what to do!" The tears overwhelmed the young woman.

Ron acted without thinking. He simply reached out and hugged his Japanese friend. She immediately buried her face in his chest and clung to him, sobbing uncontrollably. Ron patted her on the back and tried to come up with a course of action. By the time she had composed herself, Ron had the beginnings of a plan. He didn't see a distant set of green eyes go narrow.

"Yori," he asked, "are you willing to trust me?" She stepped back, wiped her eyes and nodded.

"Then I must bring the rest of my team in on this. I know that Yamanouchi must be kept secret but we are dealing with a vicious, clever foe. I'm not being timid, like when we had to retrieve the blade; I'm being realistic. Master Sensei is in trouble and I won't deny myself, or him, any resource at my disposal."

Yori hesitated for a moment then nodded again.

"Now let's go find Kim. Then we can go to my house and call Wade. Then we make our plans."

Yori looked at him for a moment. "Yes, Ron-san. The time for sorrow is past, the time for preparation is now and the time for action is soon. We must make ready."

Ron and Yori returned to the school building. Ron had to inform the office that he was leaving school to take on a mission and he had to tell…

KIM!!!

She was waiting at the door when Ron and Yori walked back in. She was standing with her arms crossed and a hard 'I'm waiting for an explanation' expression on her face. For a long moment, the three just looked at each other.

"So what's the sitch?" Kim's question came out almost as a demand.

Ron chose his words carefully. "Kim, this is Yori from theYamanouchi School in Japan. I met her during my exchange trip. Yori, this is Kim Possible, the leader of Team Possible and my oldest and closest friend."

The Japanese girl bowed slightly. "I am honored to meet you, Possible-san, Ron-san spoke often and highly of you while in Japan."

Kim's stance relaxed, slightly. She nodded to the other girl before responding. "Pleased to meet you, too. What brings you to Middleton High in the middle of a school day?" Her tone was still rather challenging.

Ron stepped in; "Monty has kidnapped the head teacher at Yamanouchi." Kim's eyes widened. "He left a ransom note which says that the teacher is being held in America. Yori looked me up for assistance. I want to make it a Team Possible mission to rescue him."

"Is that all that's going on?" Kim was giving Yori a decidedly hard glare.

"Kim, what else could there be?"

Kim gave Ron a long look, "Fine, where is this teacher at, what does Monty want, how much time to we have?"

"The middle of the high school isn't a good place for a mission briefing. Why don't we inform the office, get our gear, at meet at my place?

"Good idea," she agreed. "We're also going to have to do some damage control."

"Damage control?" Ron looked confused.

Kim rolled her eyes, "we'll deal with it on the way back, let's go rescue a teacher."


	29. Rescue Mission

**Chapter 28: Rescue Mission**

Wade proved as efficient as ever. Within the hour, the three teens found themselves on a package-delivery company's aircraft on the way to Los Angeles. Yori had given the boy genius the location of the facility and he had tracked down the construction plans. The three teens were reviewing these plans on a laptop computer, trying to find the most likely place that Monty was holding Master Sensei. The three teens were wearing mission gear, Yori being close enough to Kim's size to wear a spare set of her clothing.

"So we're agreed," Kim was saying. "This room," she touched the screen, "is the most likely holding place." Ron and Yori nodded. "But we can't be sure. The plan is to get onto the roof here," she pointed to another spot, "and get Rufus into the ductwork. We'll open the roof access hatch and make our way to the room. At this point, "she pointed at a third spot, "we wait for Rufus. He'll report to us and we'll alter our plans as needed." The teens all agreed.

"One more thing," the redhead continued. "Yori, I want you to stay behind us. Ron and I have been doing things like this for a long time. I know that you want to help but when the fighting starts you'll only get in the way if you try. Once we locate your teacher, Ron and I will hold off the bad guys while you release him. Then we get clear. Do you understand?"

Yori seemed ready to argue but stopped. She nodded. "I agree Possible-san."

"Good," Kim checked her watch. "We should be over the site within twenty minutes. The pilot has agreed to alter his course slightly to accommodate us. Since this is a regular flight and we're a full day ahead of Monty's deadline, we just might catch him by surprise."

"Let us hope so, Possible-san but even more, let us hope for success."

Kim nodded and gave her equipment another check. The three teens put on their parachutes and tried to calm themselves. Soon, the airliner dropped altitude and cut speed. The three teens went to the rear hatch while a crewman showed up and attached a safety strap to his body. When the intercom system squawked he opened the hatch.

Kim jumped first and Ron, screaming like a banshee, jumped next. Yori was right behind Ron. The three teens managed to land on the facility's roof and quickly collapsed and stowed their 'chutes. Ron opened up one of the rooftop air handling units and released Rufus inside. While he was doing this, Kim approached Yori.

"That was very graceful parachute work," she said. "Have you parachuted before?"

"No, Possible-san. This was my first time."

"Landing on a roof takes skill and agility. Where did you pick it up?" Kim's voice had become challenging again.

"I have received extensive, what do you say…gymnastics training as part of my education. That and I was able to observe you and Ron-san, as I was the last out of the aircraft." The Japanese girl looked closely at Kim. "Tell me, Possible-san, if you did not think that I would land on this roof, why did you wish me to jump?"

"To tell you the truth I expected you to miss the roof and land, safely, on the ground. That would have allowed Ron and I to complete the rescue and pick you up later. Since you've managed to keep with us, stick to the plans we discussed earlier."

"I will do so, Possible-san."

The three teens easily picked the lock on the roof hatch and slipped inside the building. The facility was, ostensibly, abandoned so there were no workers to be found. They crept silently down to the second floor. The ground floor with the cages, where they believed Sensei to be, was just below them.

"Yori," Kim whispered. "Stay here, at the top of the stairs and make sure nobody is approaching us from behind. My partner and I will go to the bottom of the stairs and look around. We'll wave to you when we're ready to move."

"Yes, Possible-san."

"Okay, what's going on with her?" Kim demanded of Ron, as soon as they were out of earshot of the Japanese girl.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Ron Stoppable. That Japanese _schoolgirl _managed to land a parachute on a rooftop and she's been absolutely silent all the way down here. Not to mention she's on a dangerous mission and she isn't even stuttering. Just what's the deal with her."

Ron sighed. "Kim, you're right. There's a lot more to Yori than it appears. Sensei has sworn me to secrecy about a lot of this and I was hoping that he would reveal what he considered appropriate. I _will_ say that Yori has had extensive martial arts training."

Kim gave Ron a hard look. "Are you sure she's on our side?"

"What do you mean."

"I mean that we know Monty's wanted to get his paws on you for months now. Don't you think it's convenient that less than six hours after _she_ arrives in our school, here we are putting you close to him?"

"Kim, it's not like that."

"Then what _is_ it like?" She demanded, with as much force as a whisper could provide.

"Kim, I've got to ask you to trust me. Once we rescue Sensei I'll tell you everything he allows me to."

"Fine, but answer me one thing. There was more to that trip you took to Japan than just a student exchange, wasn't there?"

"Yes, there was."

"Good enough…for now."

Kim waved Yori down the stairs and the three teens continued their mission. They reached what had once been the Control Center for the complex. They had entered from the administrative section, which consisted of offices, meeting rooms, electrical closets, and other such rooms. On the other side of the Control Center were three separate rooms, each of which were bisected by a metal fence. These rooms allowed the staff to interact with the simians without running the risk of attack. A gate, all of which were open, pierced each metal fence. The far side of each Interaction Room had a door, which led, the teens assumed, to the simians' living and care facilities.

The teens heard a scratching sound from above them and looked up to see Rufus looking out of an air duct. Once the smallest member of Team Possible saw his buddy below him, he jumped into Ron's waiting hands.

"Rufus," Ron asked his little friend, "did you find Master Sensei?"

"Uh-huh!" He squeaked then he burst into a series of chitters and chatters that only Ron could understand.

"He says that Sensei, Monkey Fist, and about a dozen monkey ninjas were all in the Middle Holding Room. Master Sensei was inside some sort of metal pen and about half of the monkeys were clinging to the sides. Another monkey ninja showed up a few minutes ago and said something to Monkey Fist. After that they wheeled Sensei out to some sort of big, outside enclosure. That's where they were a few minutes ago."

"Okay, lets go in." Kim said. "I'll bet that the monkey ninja that reported to Fisk had spotted us. They probably moved Sensei because they weren't expecting us to show up a day early. Let's get in there before they have a chance to get ready for us!"

Neither Yori nor Ron could come up with a better plan so the three teens and one naked mole rat charged through the Interaction Room, through the Holding Room, and outside the building. They spotted a large, outdoor enclosure containing several…

"Monkeys!" Ron screamed. "Why does it always have to be monkeys?"

"Ron, calm down." Kim knew all about Ron's monkey phobia.

"Ron-san, perhaps Possible-san and I can enter the cage and free Master Sensei while you guard the entrance." Yori placed a comforting hand on Ron's shoulder while making the suggestion.

Kim glared at Yori's hand. "I agree, watch my back Ron, Yori and I will deal with the monkeys." She continued to glare at Yori's hand until it came away from Ron. "Okay, lets go!"

As soon as the two girls charged into the enclosure, the gate slammed shut behind them.

"Ah, Mr. Stoppable," that hated, cultured voice announced. Ron spun around to see Monkey Fist emerge from the building, holding a remote control. "I had hoped that you would be so kind as to visit me."

"I knew it!" Kim raged at Yori. "You were working for him all along!"

"I most certainly was not!" The Japanese girl protested.

"You jump to conclusions, Miss Possible." Monkey Fist interrupted, tucking the remote control into his Gi. "While I would enjoy watching the two of you tear each other to bits, it would be most dishonorable. Your companion is both beyond corruption and very fond of Mr. Stoppable here. It was only her concern for her Sensei that drove her to seek Mr. Stoppable's assistance."

Monkey Fist then turned to Ron. "Mr. Stoppable, I must inform you that I have performed further research on the Mystical Monkey Power which you posses. I have come to the conclusion that if I dissect you; this power will be free to adhere to a worthier candidate. Honor dictates that I offer you the chance of peaceful surrender, with the knowledge that I will use anesthetic when performing the task."

"No thanks Monty, I prefer to resist my dismemberment." Ron dropped into a ready stance.

"I had expected as much, Mr. Stoppable and I would have thought less of you had you accepted. Just so your two companions don't get any unpleasant ideas about freeing themselves and interfering…Monkey ninjas, attaaaack!" The monkey ninjas attacked the girls, revealing Master Sensei inside a cage. Monkey Fist attacked Ron.

Kim and Yori quickly dispatched the monkey ninjas inside the enclosure with them. The two girls shared a look of mutual respect once the last monkey was down. Yori ran to Master Sensei's pen while Kim ran to the enclosure's gate, pulled out her small, disguised laser cutter, and went to work. "These bars are high strength steel," she reported. "It's going to take several minutes to cut each one."

"The pen is also of steel." Yori responded.

"Then we shall simply trust in Stoppable-san," Said Sensei. "While you seek to escape the enclosure."

_Ron, just run away! _Kim urged in her mind, even though she _knew_ that he would never leave with her trapped like she was. As it was, she had difficulty working her laser while watching him. For several minutes he seemed to be strictly working defense, blocking, dodging, and evading. While Monty got in a few hits, they were glancing blows. Finally, as Kim completed her first cut, Monkey Fist started to slow down.

Ron didn't go fully on the offensive. He ducked in and landed a couple of slaps to his opponent's face. Monkey Fist rallied and attacked in a rage, burning off more of his endurance. He slowed again and Ron moved in. Monty threw a desperate attack that finally landed; his roundhouse kick hit Ron's right hip even as Ron's ridge-hand strike took him on the right temple. Monkey Fist stumbled backwards to lean, dazed, against the facility's wall. Ron limped forward and drove his knee three times, hard, into Monty's gut. Monkey Fist slumped to the ground. The remote control flew out of his Gi.

Ron looked between the control and the villain for several long moments. Then he scooped up the remote and delivered it to Yori. The Japanese girl experimented with the controls while Kim continued to cut a bar and Ron limped back towards Monty. Even as Monkey Fist recovered and lurchded back to his feet, Kim finished cutting the bar and Yori managed to both free Sensei and open the enclosure. Monty considered the four-to-one odds against him and fled.

The mission was successful.

Kim ran to Ron and helped him lower himself to the ground. In addition to his injured hip, his forearms were covered in what would soon become ugly bruises. Yori and Sensei joined the two Americans. Rufus appeared from out of the facility. As soon as everyone was together Kim stood up and looked at her four companions.

"Okay everybody," she declared. "I think I'm due some explanations."


	30. Answers from Japan

**Chapter 29: Answers from Japan**

Kim called Wade to arrange for transportation. He was setting up a return trip for Sensei and Yori, as well as a return trip for Kim and Ron. Then the four humans, and one naked mole rat, returned to the facility and settled into what had once been a conference room. While there was no furniture, there were lights and heat to combat the oncoming night. Once settled, Master Sensei spoke.

"Miss Possible, you have stated that you feel that we owe you explanations. Stoppable-san has asked me to reveal what I determine to be appropriate. So I ask you, Miss Possible, what do you wish to know?"

Kim tried to remember her manners. "Sir, perhaps a general explanation is in order. I mean, first of all a Japanese _schoolgirl_ shows up, out of the blue, asking my best friend and assistant for help. This _schoolgirl_ turns out to be both very chummy with Ron and a highly skilled martial artist. We arrive here, where Monkey Fist raves about some _Mystical Monkey Power_ that he's willing to dissect Ron to get hold of. Then my best friend since we were four is suddenly able to beat a surgically enhanced Kung-Fu master."

Master Sensei smiled. "I shall attempt to answer your questions, Miss Possible, but please be aware that I shall keep such secrets that I deem necessary." Kim nodded. "First of all, Miss Possible, I wish to know if you believe that all things in this world can be explained by science."

Kim thought this over. "I guess not," she finally admitted. "Both of my parents say that there are things that science just hasn't explained yet. Dad's more of the opinion that science will figure it out eventually, while mom thinks that some things will always be a mystery."

"Very well, your beliefs may make this easier." Sensei's eyes grew vague, as if he were looking beyond the room's walls. "There exist many spiritual influences, or powers, which cannot be measured by physical means. One of these is a benign influence, which we name the Mystical Monkey Power. We name it this because it's…manifestation is associated with the practice ofTai Sheng Pek Kwar, or Monkey Kung Fu."

"Centuries ago," the old man continued. "A most dishonorable man learned of this power and wanted to control it without mastering the discipline and integrity of a true adherent of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. He spent many years discussing the aspects of the Mystical Monkey Power with all whom had…access to it." The old man sighed. "Those were more innocent times when the extraordinary was more accepted. Anyway, after this man had spent years studying the Mystical Monkey Power, he spent more years constructing icons, which he believed would grant _him_ access."

Sensei's expression grew sad. "While he was successful in constructing the icons, he was disappointed with the results. You see, Miss Possible, the Mystical Monkey Power has a will as well as a presence and it resists being used for selfish and cruel ends. This man gained access to the power but only at the most limited level of bonding. Frustrated with his results, he sold the notes he had taken and the four icons he had created and faded into obscurity."

"Not many years ago, another man became obsessed with mastering Monkey Kung Fu. His obsession drove him to study under the greatest masters willing to instruct him and he coupled this obsession with his other great fixation, archeology."

"Lord Montgomery Fisk!" Ron gasped.

"The same," answered Sensei. "This odd combination of endeavors led him to the possession of the long-forgotten man's notes. Remember when the first man had made these notes, he believed that the full manifestation of the Mystical Monkey Power could be seized and used for his own selfish purposes. Fisk read these notes and believed that the Mystical Monkey Power would grant him ultimate mastery of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. So he spent years tracking down the four, long-forgotten icons."

Ron nodded; it was all starting to make sense.

Sensei shook his head. "The fool. Had he managed to use the icons he too would have been dismayed by the results, since he intended to use the Mystical Monkey Power for a selfish purpose. Yet he never had the chance, since a young man learned of what he was doing."

Kim looked at Ron. "That solo mission you took while I was keeping my cousin company?" Ron nodded.

Sensei smiled at Ron. "A young man who feared anything to do with monkeys and who feared this unknown power realized that an evil man was attempting to gain it. This young man could only think of one way to thwart the evil mans designs; take the power unto himself. Because his was an act of self-sacrifice, the Mystical Monkey Power bonded itself to this young man much more strongly than it would have to Fisk."

"Would Fisk have gained greater mastery of the Mystical Monkey Power if he had dismembered Ron?" Kim asked.

Sensei shook his head with a sad smile. "No, the Mystical Monkey Power doesn't function in that manner. Fisk thinks that it is similar to a battery in an appliance, if you destroy the appliance you can remove the battery. It is more like the signal coming over a radio, if you destroy the radio, the signal goes unutilized."

"So what does this Mystical Monkey Power do to Ron?"

"It doesn't do anything _to_ him, Miss Possible, but it does affect him. The most obvious manifestation is to enhance his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar skills. You yourself noted that he defeated a master, yet he has had only one week of formal training followed by months of diligent, solo practice."

Kim stared hard at Ron. "You've been practicing in secret?" Ron winced.

"Indeed he has, Miss Possible." Sensei interrupted, "and at my request. He did not wish to keep secrets from you, but I deemed it best that his skills not become general knowledge. Stoppable-san has respected my reasons and requests and has followed them most diligently."

Kim seemed ready to say something to Ron, but addressed Sensei instead. "What other manifestations does this Mystical Monkey Power show?"

"There are manifestations that I will not reveal to you, at least not at this time." Sensei informed her, "please accept my assurances that they are not harmful and do not affect you in any way. As Stoppable-san brings himself more in tune with this power, greater and more useful manifestations shall become apparent."

"Is the Mystical Monkey Power the reason he has had so much success wrestling?" Kim was giving Ron a decidedly hard eye.

"As Monkey Fist said earlier, you jump to conclusions, Miss Possible. Stoppable-san took up the sport of wrestling because he wanted to safeguard the secrets of Yamanouchi while assisting you to a greater extent. He reasoned that if anyone noticed him becoming more capable, they would assume that it was due to his hard work on the mat. His success there is due strictly to his hard work and the direction of his coach and his friends. Ron-san has, of course, come to enjoy the sport and his teammates."

Kim's expression had softened considerably. "You took up wrestling as a cover, so you could help me more and still keep your secrets?" She asked Ron, who nodded. "And you kept it up even after I harshed on you?" Another nod from Ron.

Kim shook her head then turned back to Sensei. "What does the Yamanouchi School have to with Mystical Monkey Power?"

Sensei smiled again. "The Yamanouchi School is dedicated, in part, to assisting those with access to the Mystical Monkey Power bring themselves into harmony with it. We do this through the practice of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. We have certain contacts within the Japanese Government and used them to arrange Stoppable-san's visit, once we learned he had access to the Mystical Monkey Power."

"How did you learn about his …access?"

"Alas, Miss Possible, that is information that I will not reveal at this time."

"So does everyone who practices Tai Sheng Pek Kwar gain access to the Mystical Monkey Power?"

"No, Miss Possible, the Mystical Monkey Power only manifests itself through a small number of people. It has not chosen either Yori, or Hirotaka. We do not understand why anybody is chosen. I believe that the power chose Stoppable-san when he made his sacrifice and has bonded to him more strongly because of who he happens to be."

"So, does this mean he has some sort of destiny to fulfill?"

"I do not believe in _destiny_, Miss Possible, I believe in probability. The Mystical Monkey Power bonded, strongly, to Stoppable-san due to his self-sacrifice. The Mystical Monkey Power is strongest in those who seek to assist others without gaining glory for themselves. Stoppable-San chose to become your 'secret weapon', secret even from you. Because his attitude is very much in harmony with what the Mystical Monkey Power promotes, I deem it _probable_ that Stoppable-san shall become a great…conduit for this power. Because he assists you in your endeavors, it is _probable_ that he will have great need of this power. I seek to work within these probabilities by training Stoppable-san in the arts of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar and the channeling of the Mystical Monkey Power."

Headlights approached the building, interrupting any further questions Kim might have asked. Sensei and Yori's ride had just arrived.

"The time has come for us to part, Miss Possible." The old man informed her, rising to his feet. "It has been a pleasure to meet you. You have already learned that which I deemed appropriate to reveal. Please do not take offense that I did not reveal everything to you, I have chosen to keep secrets even from Stoppable-San. Please accept my deepest thanks for your assistance and pass my thanks on to Wade-san, as well."

He then turned to Ron. "I thank you as well, Stoppable-san. Your actions reveal that you have been diligent in your practice of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. While you have advanced your skill, another trip to Yamanouchi will be most beneficial."

Ron stood to address the old man. "It was my honor to assist you, Master Sensei. The summer is approaching and it will be my honor to visit Yamanouchi, once classes have ended at Middleton. I look forward to the day we can meet again, under better circumstances than today." Ron bowed, respectfully, and held his bow until the old man returned it and left the room.

As Ron straightened, Yori approached the American teens and bowed to Kim. "Possible-san, it is good to have met you, after hearing so much about you from Ron-san. Thank you for your assistance." Kim nodded to her.

Yori bowed to Ron. "And thank you, as well Ron-san. It was good to see you, and I look forward to your next visit to Yamanouchi."

Ron returned her bow. "I feel honored that you came to me in your hour of need, Yori. I too, look forward to my return to Yamanouchi."

Yori smiled. "Then we share a bond of honor, Ron-san." She stepped forward, kissed him on the cheek, and then followed Sensei out the door.

Ron limped to a facility window, where he could watch Sensei and Yori climb into the truck. The truck would deliver them to a nearby airport, where they would start on a series of plane rides to Tokyo. He and Kim would be picked up in a few more minutes and ride to a different airport for a direct flight to Middleton. He never noticed that Kim's eyes and mouth had flown open when Yori had kissed him. He only noticed her intent stare when he turned back to her.

"What?" He asked.

"Don't you know?" She now seemed amused.

"Know what?"

"Yori, she likes you."

"Yeah, she's really nice to everyone."

Kim rolled her eyes up. "No, Ron. I mean she _like_ likes you."

Ron's eyes flew wide. "Wha…you mean she…?" Kim nodded. He turned back to where he could see the truck's taillights disappearing in the distance. "Awww man!" Then he took a deep breath and shrugged. "It's probably better that I didn't know. According to Monique, I'm officially in rebound until this Sunday and I'm not allowed any romantic interests whatsoever."

Kim smiled back. "That's the spirit, Romeo." Then she hesitated. "But really, you were ready to jump into fire to help her. What's the sitch with the two of you?"

Ron took a deep breath and a sad look came over his face. "I was really feeling down and worthless when I went to Japan. Yori believed in me when nobody else did, not even myself. She knew just the right buttons to push; she supported me one minute and forced me to deal with things myself the next. Because of her, I was able to pull myself out of a pretty bad place and start respecting myself."

"Ron, why didn't you talk to me about whatever was bothering you?" Kim looked decidedly troubled.

"I just couldn't Kim, please leave it at that."

"No! What was it that had you so upset?"

"Kim, when I came back you had things that you just weren't ready to talk about, with me, at the time. Please look at this the same way. I'll tell you when I'm ready." Ron's voice was firm.

"Ron, I don't like these secrets!" Kim's eyes were narrow and her teeth were clenched. Then she regained control of her temper. "But I'm going to have to learn to respect your privacy. Fine, now let's come up with how we're going to deal with the gossip back at school."

Ron was confused. "What gossip?"

Kim gave him a level look. "Ron, a lot of kids overheard Yori when she asked to speak to you about something important to the _two of you_. When you walked off for your private conversation, a lot of kids saw her crying and you being both affectionate and supportive. Care to guess what the favorite rumor is right now?"

Ron looked perplexed for a few minutes, then his eyes flew wide. "What? Oh, no! That's so not the case!"

Kim couldn't help but tease him a little. "Are you _absolutely_ sure?"

Ron glared at her. "YES I'M ABSOLUTELY SURE! It's a biological impossibility. I would have remembered." He shot her a questioning look. "I mean, you _do_ remember, don't you? Because if you didn't, that would go a long way towards explaining a lot of Locker-Room talk."

"Enough," Kim didn't want any more details. "Lets just figure out what we're going to tell everyone."


	31. State Tournament

**Chapter 30: State Tournament**

Saturday morning Ron sprawled out on his back and tried to calm himself down and rest. Here he was at the Pinnacle Village Civic Center, competing in the Colorado State Wrestling Tournament. He should be elated to have made it this far but he was more exhausted than happy. Not only was his hip swollen and painful, but his thumb was sore from where he had hit Monty with the Ridge Hand. While these injuries were by no means life threatening, they were affecting him. He couldn't grip well with his right hand and he didn't have that powerful _drive_ off of his right leg. Yesterday the competitors had wrestled two rounds. Ron had won his first match and lost his second match. He was one loss from being eliminated and two wins from placing. Dave had won his first match and lost his second, just like Ron. Both Oscar and Bruce had won both of their matches.

Ron was nervous and disappointed about how alone he felt. His fellow Middleton wrestlers were there, of course, as well as the Middleton wrestling cheerleaders. Felix had been named the student manager and was there as well. But on this Saturday morning, with the third round of competition about to start, Ron was very aware that he was the only Middleton wrestler whose parents hadn't made the trip to see him compete. He looked around to try to find something to take his mind away from the pity trap he had fallen into.

More and more competitors were making their way out onto the mats to stretch out and chat with each other. They mixed without regard to their own teams. Ron spotted Oscar and Dave in a small group a few feet away. Feeling too lazy to get up, he did a couple of summersaults towards them and joined the group. He had no concern of not being welcome to join in.

Wrestling tournaments always meant several of these informal groups, with the boys constantly joining, leaving, forming, and dissolving them. All of the wrestlers present were always welcome to join any of them. It was one of Ron's favorite things about the sport. Ron spent the next several minutes mostly listening to the other boys. After a roundtable discussion involving the merits of four cars, two motorcycles, two movies, several dating 'techniques' and a half-dozen dirty jokes, the boys were interrupted by the paging system.

"Please clear that mats, we're ready to start the first session of the day."

"Well gentlemen, good luck." Oscar offered everyone as way of goodbye. The rest of the boys agreed with the sentiment as they heaved themselves up and off of the mat. Roughly a quarter of the competitors had been eliminated yesterday so it didn't take as long to run through this round of competition. Ron watched Dave win a close match shortly before it was his turn.

Ron managed to win his match by three points. Both his hip and his thumb were really bothering him. He checked with Felix, who managed to find two icepacks for him. Ron sat in the bleachers and put the packs on his injuries while watching the matches. Oscar won his match, his third of the tournament. He now advanced to the championship round. Bruce had his first loss of the tournament. There was then a short break before the next round.

Ron grabbed a light meal then returned to the mat to rest. He was too wound up to sleep but he didn't really feel like talking much with his fellow competitors. The boys who felt like talking formed groups near the center of the mat. The boys who wanted a little solitude tended to sprawl out along the sides.

"Trying to sleep?" Ron recognized Felix's voice. Ron didn't bother to open his eyes.

" No," Ron replied, "I'm counting the lights."

"Why?"

"If I count them now, I won't have to count them during my match."

Ron heard Felix snort out a laugh. He also heard another, feminine, giggle. He looked over to see a laughing Cindy, and a confused Kim, next to Felix. Ron sat up while Cindy explained to Kim that the phrase 'counting lights' was wrestler slang for being thrown to your back. Kim then gave Ron a pained look.

"I see that success hasn't improved your sense of humor."

Ron grinned sheepishly. "What brings you out here, KP?"

"Mon and I had the day free and thought we'd see how you were doing."

Ron was truly grateful. "Thanks, KP. I really appreciate it."

KP gave him a warm look. "So, where's your 'rents?"

"They…didn't make the trip." For some reason, Ron didn't feel so bad about it anymore. Both Cindy and Kim, however, clearly didn't approve of that. Before either could comment the PA system announced the next round of matches.

Ron first met with Dave, Oscar, Bruce, and Coach Winters. Once Coach gave them a short talk, he released them until match time. Ron joined Kim, Monique, and Felix for small talk and to thank the girls, again, for coming to the match. Monique said that it wasn't any big deal because she had come to check out the sea of fine posteriors on display. She then set Ron to blushing by pointing out that his was also part of the scenery. She had then informed Felix that she was checking him out, as well. The three teens talked until the 112-pound competitors started to wrestle. Ron excused himself and went to one of the warm up mats and started to stretch.

Soon Dave had his next match. Ron watched as Dave managed a four-point victory. Dave would now place no lower than sixth. A few minutes later one of the officials came to the warm-up mat and called Ron and his opponent. The official sent the two boys to one of the three mats in use, where they reported to the scorekeepers. Coach Winters showed up and talked to Ron while the Middleton Cheerleaders found seats close by. Soon the current match was finished and it was Ron's turn.

The two boys trotted out onto the mat, shook hands, and took up ready positions. Coach Winters took up a position at one corner, the opposing coach at the other. Both teams' cheerleaders set their cushions next to the mat and started their routines.

"Ron's hip is really bothering him," Kim whined to Monique.

"How can you tell? He looks fine to me."

"I've known him since we were four and we've been fighting crime for over two years now. He's favoring that hip. I sure hope he'll be okay."

Monique was actually happy to hear the concern in Kim's voice.

The referee started the match. Ron closed in and faked a Single-Leg at his opponent's right leg. The other boy reacted instantly. Now Ron had a good indication of his speed, _fast_. Ron then faked another Single-Leg at the boy's right leg and followed with an immediate Ankle-Sweep at his left foot. The other boy pulled his foot back just in time as Ron's right hip wouldn't support the quick move. The other boy made his move while Ron was still recovering.

The boy grabbed the back or Ron's head with one hand then pulled backwards and down. Ron stepped forward to keep from falling. Keeping his grip on Ron's head, the boy reached down, caught Ron's forward ankle, and lunged into Ron, knocking him over. The folding motion aggravated the pain in Ron's hip. Ron could tell right away that he was going down so he spun to his belly on the way. He gave up the Takedown but prevented being thrown to his back. He didn't give his opponent a chance to try for a pinning hold.

Ron executed three Sit-Outs, as fast as his sore hip would allow, then rolled away from his opponent. The other boy, straining to keep up, couldn't stop in time. Ron's roll sent him over the top of Ron, and Ron was quickly on top of him, earning two points for a reversal. Ron wormed a Chicken-Wing hold onto his opponent's right arm, then reached under his waist with his left hand and grabbed his opponent's right wrist. With his favorite pining hold in place, Ron spun his opponent counterclockwise, using the Chicken-Wing to twist him over towards his back. The period ended before he could roll the boy over. The score was tied.

Ron had the choice for the second period and chose the up position. The boys took up their stances and the match was on again. The first half of the period was a stalemate. Ron broke down his opponent's base with Ankle-Picks three times, but his clever opponent managed to work back to his base without giving Ron an opening for a pinning hold. Ron had then tried to wrap the boy up with a Cradle when his opponent managed a Gramby-Roll on Ron. He got his hips out from under Ron's body and rolled across his shoulders while holding one of Ron's arms tight around his waist. The result was a reversal and the other boy had a Hammerlock on Ron. The period ended before either boy could do anything else. Ron was behind by two points.

Panting and sweating, both boys set up for the third round. Ron took his all-fours stance with the other boy in the up position. Ron tried the combination that had worked for him in the first period. He executed three Sit-Outs followed by a roll. His opponent kept up with him and almost trapped him for back points. Time was running out. Ron sat back into his opponent, catching him by surprise. Ron was seated, his opponent was behind him with one arm around Ron's waist and his forehead in the middle of Ron's back. Ron dug in his feet and pressed back into his opponent while his opponent pressed forward. The two boys came up off the mat. Ron faked left then spun right.

The move worked. Both boys were on their feet. Ron gained a point for the Escape and shot a Double-Leg at his opponent. The other boy wasn't expecting the sudden move. Ron ignored the pain in his hip and drove his shoulder into his opponent's stomach. Ron kept driving forward, lifting the other boy off of the ground and driving him backwards. Even as they two boys were falling with Ron on top, the period came to an end. Ron hadn't managed the Takedown.

He had lost by a single point.

He had missed placing by a matter of seconds.


	32. Aftermath of Defeat

**Chapter 31: Aftermath of Defeat**

_He's hurt and depressed,_ Kim thought. _He's putting on a smile and he's trying not to limp, but I know that he's sad and hurting._ "Do me a favor Mon, help me keep an eye on him after he leaves the mat. I really need a word with him."

Ron forced himself to smile and congratulate his opponent. Then, as per tournament etiquette, he shook hands with the opposing coach. He then returned to his corner to face Coach Winters. Would he get chewed out or worse, get ignored?

"Good job Ron, I mean it," said Coach Winters, with a hand on Ron's shoulder. "You would have won that match if you hadn't injured your hip. Let me say this right now, I expect you back next year. You and Oscar are the core that I'm building next year's team around."

Ron felt just a little bit better but his galloping disappointment damped it back down. He excused himself from his coach as soon as he could and looked for a little privacy. He grabbed his sweats and headed for an exit near the Locker Rooms. He slipped outside and looked around. He spotted a loading dock nearby with a stack of packing pallets. He limped to the other side of the stack and looked around, nobody to be seen.

With that, Ron released the tears that had been building. Here, with nobody around, he could let it out. Nobody else would have to see how much the goof was hurting inside. Ron leaned back against the stack then slid down. Eventually he wound up sitting on something that felt like a board but he really didn't care what it was. He had come so close! Was this some kind of torture? Was someone, something allowing him to almost make it just to tear success away from him at the last moment?

Sobbing, Ron looked up. Someone was approaching!

Kim and Monique had been hard pressed to keep up with Ron after his loss, despite his limp. Trailing Ron, the two girls turned a corner and found themselves in a hallway leading to the Locker Room. _Not someplace a girl should be going,_ Kim thought, _will I need to get Oscar to fetch him? Wait, he wasn't that far ahead of us. He couldn't have gone inside yet._ An exit door swung shut off to the side_. He went outside! He's looking to be alone right now_. _Should I just let…NO! Ron Stoppable will never be hurt and alone when I can help it._"

She led Monique out the door. The two girls looked around and didn't see Ron. The only place to hide, nearby, was behind a stack of pallets. Kim led Monique in that direction. As they approached, they heard what sounded like a sob coming from behind the stack. Kim and Monique hurried around the pile and stopped cold, their eyes and mouths gapping wide. There before them sat Ron Stoppable with tears pouring out of his eyes.

Kim had seen Ron sad many times. He had been bullied and tormented at school. Mad scientist type villains routinely insulted him and reporters never remembered his name. She herself had treated him badly on many occasions. Yes, Kim had seen Ron sad many, many times, but she rarely saw him cry. Those few times she had seen him crying it was just a tear or two, quickly wiped away. This was the first time she had ever seen him crying hard.

_How many times_, Kim thought. _How many times has he just vanished after some big disappointment? How many times has he done just this? Not without me, not anymore!_

"Ron, what is it?" She asked as gently as she could.

"N-N-Nothing," Ron struggled to force the words out between his sobs. "N-N-Nothing important."

Kim snapped, "what are you going to do, wait until this summer and tell _Yori_?" Monique's eyes flew wide. "No more secrets, Ron Stoppable! It's _me_ here, KP. You know, your best friend? The one you can always talk to? Talk to me!"

"I-I-I'm just so sorry KP, you too Monique."

"What are you sorry about?"

"The two of you, you came all this way and I really appreciate it. You came all this way just to watch me lose. I'm sorry I…God I'm such a loser! I can't place in a tournament. I let old Monty get away. I can't keep a girlfriend. When a girl _is_ interested in me I don't even realize it. My 'rents won't even show up to watch me. Just as well, why drag more people out here just to see me fail?" Ron buried his head in his hands and wept.

_The tears of a clown_, Monique mused_. He doesn't let many people see just how much anything gets to him. He really wanted to place, breaking up with Sue still bothers him and I can't understand why his parents can't make an appearance._ "Snap out of it Blondie," She jumped in. "We saw you out there putting up one heck of a match. You would have won it if you hadn't been injured!"

"Yeah," Kim agreed. "You were injured while helping Yori and me." She thought about what she was going to say. It wouldn't do to let out one of the secrets Ron was determined to keep. "Remember, you drove Monty away. No, you didn't capture him but you sent him running! You know why he ran away?"

Ron lifted his red face up and stared at her.

"Because he knew you were better than him. He cleared out so you _wouldn't_ finish him. As far as I'm concerned that makes you the winner. As far as Sue is concerned, it's her loss. And as for your 'rents, well, I don't know. I know my folks are going to be waiting for a full report tomorrow morning." She giggled a little. "And the tweebs will want to reenact it as soon as you're up to it."

Ron's answering smile was weak and short-lived. He dropped his face back into his hands, still trembling and sobbing. Kim had never seen him this shook up. Not knowing exactly what she was doing, she sat down next to him, pulled his head down to her shoulder and rested her cheek on the top of his head while sobs wracked his body. He resisted a little at first, but then just relaxed at let the tears out.

_Keep that pose you two, _Monique thought. _Just stay like that. Both of you are going to be sooooo much happier if you just get together. _Then she spoke up."Ron, if I ever hear anybody call you a loser again they're going to have to answer to me. That includes _you_, mister."

After a few minutes, Ron had regained his composure enough to go back inside. Before doing so, he thanked the girls for looking out for him and apologized for his outburst. Monique set him to blushing, again, by telling him she was disappointed that he would changing out of his wrestling tights and into street clothes. Shaking his head, he limped to the Locker Room, showered, changed then rejoined Kim and Monique. They found a spot low on the bleachers so that they could stay close to Felix and so that Ron could reach his teammates without climbing too many stairs. Then the four friends enjoyed the rest of the tournament.

Dave finished in fifth place at 126. At 132 the boy who handed Ron his first defeat of this tournament took third, while the boy who eliminated Ron took fourth. Bruce took fourth place in the heavyweight division. The four friends stayed for the championship round that evening. At 132 the Block City wrestler, who had beaten Ron at both the Regional and Sectional Tournaments, took first place honors. A short time later, in the 167-pound division, Oscar pinned his opponent to become the first ever Middleton High State Champion. Felix reviewed his statistics and pointed out that Oscar had gone undefeated for the entire season and had only failed to pin his opponent three times. It was one of the most dominant performances in the state. When Cindy presented him with his awards, she broke tradition and kissed him on the mouth rather than the cheek. Oscar was decidedly red-faced for his pictures.

Ron congratulated the two boys who had beaten him at this tournament, as well as the Block City boy who had defeated him earlier. He was surprised and very touched when they not only remembered him, but they all demanded that he tell them he would be back next year. They were all seniors and wanted to make sure that the future of the sport would be in capable hands, even if those hands weren't from their own teams.

With the matches over, Ron reluctantly said goodbye to Kim and Monique. They would drive back home while he and Felix would take the team bus. Once away from Kim and Monique, Ron started to feel down again. Kim and Monique had helped him deal with his breakup and the fact that his 'rents hadn't made it, but he was still the only Middleton wrestler to have made the trip and not earn a place. Being with the rest of the team drove that home to him. The bus had just gotten out of Pinnacle Village and onto the highway when Dave got right into his face.

"How DARE you be down, Stoppable?" The older boy challenged.

"Wha…?" Ron was at a loss.

"I asked you why you were down. Are you going to answer us?"

Ron looked around and saw that, in addition to Dave, Oscar, Bruce and the cheerleaders were all staring at him. "Guys, I'm sorry, I'm the only one who didn't place…"

"You have NOTHING to apologize for," the older boy interrupted. "This was your first year on the mat! You're bummed that you didn't place at State? My first year I didn't even make varsity! I was two and ten as a B-team wrestler. Last year, my THIRD year wrestling, I didn't even make it to State! Do you know what that means?"

Ron shook his head.

"It means that you're good, damned good. If you just quit getting down on yourself because you're not the absolute best you're going to be a lot happier. You're going to go out again next year, aren't you?"

"Of course." Ron whispered.

"YOU BETTER! Before Coach Winters showed up, the Middleton Wrestling Team was a joke. We've worked our butts off to make it respectable and now it is. Now it's up to guys like you and Oscar to keep it going. You're good Stoppable, a lot better than I was at your age even though I had a lot more experience. Don't you dare get down about yourself."

For some reason Dave's butt chewing made Ron feel even better about himself than Kim and Monique's consoling. He was able to congratulate Dave, Oscar and Bruce. He was also able to thank all the cheerleaders and Coach Winters. He promised the coach that he would be back on the team next year. The coach made him promise to have a doctor look at his hip.

Ron looked back at Pinnacle Village. _I don't know where the State Tournament will be held next year, but it doesn't really matter_. _I _will_ make it back and I _will_ place. My goal stays the same, its just been pushed back a year._ With that, Ron settled in and slept almost all of the way home.


	33. Recuperation

**Chapter 32: Recuperation**

Ron's hip was very swollen and painful on Sunday. He felt like just staying in bed all day but he had promised KP a shopping trip and he was determined to live up to it. Besides, maybe walking would loosen the joint up a little bit. He limped down to the kitchen when a delightful thought hit him. Wrestling season was over! No more weigh-ins for nine months! He rooted through the refrigerator and the cupboards like he was reuniting himself with old friends. By the time his parents woke up, he had a massive feast waiting on the table.

While they were eating, Ron screwed up his courage and spoke up. "Mom, Dad," he said. "I'd like to talk to you about the tournament. Why didn't you guys come out and watch me?" The explanation really opened Ron's eyes.

The walk to KP's house didn't help his hip at all. In fact, he was limping so badly that the tweebs didn't even attack him. Mrs. Dr. P took one look at him and immediately ordered him to strip down to his boxers. It was embarrassing, but when a doctor put on _that_ face, you did what she told you. She took one look at the massive bruise and banished him to the couch, with an ice pack. The 'shopping rebound activity' was cancelled for the day.

"Ronald," she said. "This isn't my specialty but I can tell that your injury is an impact injury, not something likely to happen to a wrestler. What happened to you?"

Kim and Ron explained the fight outside Yuma, without divulging Ron's Tai Sheng Pek Kwar skills or the MMP. Mrs. Dr. P was furious.

"Ronald, I'm calling your parents and we will set up an appointment for tomorrow. Right now, I can tell you that this is some form of impact injury that has been aggravated by you _foolishly_ competing in that tournament." Ron flinched. "Tomorrow, we'll find out if it's only a muscle injury or if you've managed to damage the bones."

"Speaking of your 'rents," Kim chimed in. "Did you find out why they didn't make the trip?"

"Yeah, it turns out mom's got some real problems. I don't know if it's a bona-fide medical condition or not, but she tenses up so bad that she can barely breathe whenever she sees me in some sort of danger. Even something as tame as a wrestling match affects her."

Kim's eyes flew wide. "What about her and the missions. How does she handle it?"

"Not to worry," Ron answered. "It doesn't affect her for something she can't actually _see_. She's accepted the fact that I'm in danger when we answer the call and while she isn't thrilled with it, she can deal with it. But let her _see_ her baby in some sort of conflict, even a contact sport, and she freaks. They decided to attend the Divisional Tournament, since it was here in Middleton. I guess she had a really bad time with it but she had recovered before she showed up to take all those pictures." He shook his head. "And here I was upset about them not traveling all over the state to watch the matches."

"Yeah," Kim deadpanned. "It goes to show you how keeping secrets can mess things up."

"I promise, I'll tell you what had me upset when I'm ready." Ron pleaded, "please trust me on this."

Kim thought it over. "Okay," she finally said. "I'll trust you, but I'm not happy with it."

Ron was spared further discussion by the tweebs, who showed up and demanded a move-by-move accounting of all of his matches. They took turns playing the roles of Ron and his opponents, under Ron's guidance. Ron was even able to talk them into going out for kid's wrestling. Mrs. Dr. P was, at first, appalled by the notion. Then Mr. Dr. P pointed out that two hours of hard exercise just might bring their energy levels down while they were at home. Mrs. Dr. P became much more enthusiastic at that point.

Mrs. Dr. P had some pull with her colleagues at the Medical Center, and Ron found himself with an appointment before school the next morning. He limped into Homeroom Monday morning knowing that he had a severe hip pointer. All physical activities putting a strain on his hip were on hold for a few weeks. Ron was a little disappointed since he had some vague plans about either trying out for the track team or helping with the kid's wrestling program. When he told Kim about his condition, she contacted Wade and told him to filter out any missions, which could include fighting. While she was willing to rescue cats out of trees on her own, there was no way she was going to freak-fight without her backup.

Unfortunately for Ron, one of Bonnie's posse overheard him discussing his condition with Kim. She passed the word to the rest of the gang and Ron spent the rest of the morning subject to 'accidental' bumps, always on his right hip, from the posse girls. His friends figured out what was going on and by the afternoon he always seemed to have Kim, Monique, Oscar, Felix or one of the wrestling team on his right side whenever he was in the hallway. By the end of the day, one of the posse girls tried to push Felix's wheelchair out of her way so that she could 'accidentally' bump Ron again. Monique politely shoved the girl up against the nearest wall and informed her that she was about to have an accident involving a couple flights of stairs. The bumping didn't resume Tuesday morning.

Kim and Ron also had to deal with the gossip involving him and Yori. As KP had predicted, rumors had him in a family sort of way. Team Possible reacted by telling as much of the truth as they could. They reported that the Yamanouchi Headmaster had been kidnapped and that Yori, knowing Ron, had come to Middleton to request Team Possible's assistance. Kim and Ron told about the fight with Monkey Fist, but didn't report the reasons. This quieted the rumors, and nobody was the wiser in regards to Ron's Kung Fu skills, MMP, or the real curriculum taught at the Yamanouchi School.

When Monique heard the tale she considered it for a few minutes. Then she informed Ron that because monkeys and injury were involved, he was officially back in rebound until such time that his hip healed up _and_ he was able to buy another set of clothes. When Ron asked for further explanation, she simply informed him that she was the relationship expert and he'd be better off just listening to her. Ron let it drop; he was in no condition to deal with an accident involving flights of stairs.

Ron settled himself into a routine while waiting for his hip to heal. He still woke up early in the morning but since he couldn't sneak outside, he stayed in his room and concentrated on the meditative and spiritual aspects of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. He would then head over to KP's and walk to school with her. Three days a week, he hit the Weight Room after school, then walked home with KP. The other two days, he went straight home after classes and practiced his various upper-body strikes. He also devoted time to homework each night.

Dealing with Kim was a dicey proposition at first. She was not happy that he had kept, and was still keeping, secrets from her. She was particularly incensed that he wasn't telling her what had upset him before he went to Japan. She had tried the PDP, pleading, and shouting but Ron had remained firm. Finally she agreed, once again, to respect his privacy. She was also interested in his mastery of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. While she had seen him use it, once, a single observation wasn't enough to judge his abilities. Instead of trying to judge his own abilities, Ron asked her to help him train once his hip healed up. She agreed, enthusiastically.

Finally, Ron's hip healed to the point that he could resume strenuous workouts. He was slightly disappointed, again, when the Track Coach wouldn't allow him on the team. While Coach Winters had been willing to put up with him occasionally running off on missions, the Track Coach wasn't. The new Swim Team Coach had the same attitude, so KP found herself without an after school activity. Ron invited her to his house to help him train.

"Here's where I stash most of my gear," he explained as they climbed into his tree house. Kim looked around and saw a lifelike target dummy, a heavy bag, a bo, a pair of tonfa, a pair of bag gloves and a gi. "I usually practice before school, but now that the sun's coming up earlier, I might have to rethink that."

"Trying to keep your training secret?"

"Exactly. There are a few spots out in the woods where nobody can see. That's where I usually drag the dummy and the bag." Ron grinned. "The schedule may have to change. I can just about imagine what kind of call my folks will get if one of the neighbors catches a glimpse of me hauling that dummy up here."

Kim laughed at the thought. "So where do you work out?"

"Follow me." With that, Ron led her out of the tree house and into the woods beyond the Stoppables' back yard. After a few minutes, he reached his destination. "This place isn't visible from any of the neighbors' windows. I sneak out here in the mornings and do running, calisthenics, katas, and practice my strikes on either the bag or the dummy. Rufus coaches me." The little mole rat poked his head out of Ron's pocket and chirped.

"I'm impressed." Kim admitted. "You've really put in some time. What do you wear when it gets really cold? A gi doesn't keep you very warm."

"When it's cold I wear sweats, mission gear or regular street clothes. I figured that I won't always be fighting in a gi, so I might as well practice while wearing what I normally do."

"Good thinking. How about practicing after school? Will there be any problems?"

"I was thinking about that. We'll have to play it by ear, but when the weather cooperates we can practice here. Mom spends a lot of time doing volunteer work, so we can use the basement when she's gone and it's cold or rainy. There may be times we can't work out. I'd rather miss a practice than let someone besides you find out that I've been training."

"You take your secrets seriously, don't you."

"I really respect Sensei, I don't want to let him down."

"Well, partner, since we're here, why don't we stretch out and you can show me what you've got?"

With that, the two teens launched themselves into an exhausting sparring session. They learned that while Ron wasn't even close to Kim's ability; he was clearly a force to be reckoned with. Kim was impressed with how much he had mastered on his own, after only a week of formal training in Japan. She told him that she was holding back, but not as much as she had expected to. They trained, after school, for the rest of the week. Soon Ron was developing his own approach to fighting, where he excelled at immobilizing his opponent with throws and/or holds, then unleashing close-in elbow and knee strikes. This was in direct contrast to the long-range hand and foot strikes where KP excelled. The two teens discussed the situation and decided that Ron's style complemented Kim's.

At the end of Friday's training session, Kim remembered Ron's promise to conduct some 'end the rebound by buying a new set of clothes,' shopping, and held him to the promise. Of course, they had to go to Club Banana and buy from Monique. (Not only would she be able to officially declare Ron 'out of rebound' but she would also get the commission on the sale.) Here, they ran into a little friction.

"Ron, what are you talking about? It looks great on you." Monique wasn't in a very good mood. She had done her usual, fine job picking out some clothing for Ron. She had chosen dark colors, an open collar, short sleeves and a slightly elastic material in the torso. There wasn't much special about the slacks, although she did insist that he tuck the shirt in and wear a belt. Now he didn't like her work?

"I'm sorry I just…it doesn't quite feel right." Ron looked uneasy.

"Ron, don't be silly!" Kim interjected. "Monique did a great job! You look good. I don't know why you insist on those baggy shirts. You've put in some hard work to get that physique, show it off a little!"

"Yeah, Blondie!" Monique agreed. "The whole idea of the 'rebound outfit' is to make the other person sorry she let you go." _And let everyone else know you're on the market_, she thought_. Kim's right, why can't you show off just a little?_ She looked him up and down. No, he wasn't buff but he was clearly athletic. The snug shirt showed off his slender build, the open neck displayed his strong neck and the short sleeves uncovered his wiry arms. The dark color contrasted nicely with his pale complexion and blond hair. _What's his problem?_

"I get the picture," Ron was blushing. "But don't you think this shirt's more appropriate for a guy with a little more…" Ron patted his pectorals and biceps.

_AHA, mystery solved!_ Monique thought. _He's self-conscious. He's been the skinny little guy for so long that he hasn't accepted the fact that he's got a nice build_. "Okay Ron, if you won't believe the two of us, lets keep it in that color and try something with long sleeves."

Monique found the shirt she was thinking of and chased Ron back to a fitting room. Kim approached her as soon as Ron was inside.

"Why didn't you hold out for _that_ shirt?" She asked, "it looked good on him."

"First rule of fashion," Monique countered. "If he isn't comfortable wearing it, he won't. He's still a little shy and I won't have him buying an outfit that he'll just shove into a closet. It's my job to make him look good, so I'll find something that he'll actually wear." She smiled, _fine tuning his wardrobe now, are we? Kim, you're making him over whether you realize it or not. I might just have to bet Felix on when the two of you get together. _

Kim agreed with her friend. There was no sense railroading Ron into buying something he would never wear.

Monique's insight proved accurate. The next shirt still looked good on Ron and he was willing to wear it. Kim and Ron thanked Monique and caught a bus back to their neighborhood. Kim kept quiet until they got off the bus and were walking home.

"Ron, do you think that you're up to missions again?"

"Sure, we'll be able to see how well you've been teaching me the new moves."

Kim giggled a little at that. Then grew serious. "Ron," she asked, "why were you shy about wearing that first shirt that Monique picked out?"

"Like I said back there, I don't have the arms and chest to pull it off."

"Are you ashamed of your body?"

"No, I just don't see it as being all that special. Why?"

"No reason, but you _are_ going to be wearing your 'out of rebound' clothes at school Monday, aren't you?"

"Sure, I guess." He didn't quite know what to make of the look she was giving him.

Their first post-recuperation mission came down yet that evening, taking his mind off of the situation.


	34. Mountain Rescue

**Chapter 33: Mountain Rescue**

"Okay, what's the sitch?" Ron asked Kim. Their ride had just picked him up at his house. As instructed, he had packed his arctic and mountain climbing gear. Wade had arranged for additional gear to be waiting for them at the rescue site.

"A mountain slash arctic type rescue," she replied, while pulling up a map on her laptop. "There has been a series of avalanches, in the High Rockies, near these resorts. Fortunately, there haven't been any casualties but there are a lot of people stranded. Weather has moved in so no helicopters can get into the area. All rescue efforts are going to be ground based. The Search and Rescue crews have the major resorts covered but we have an unprepared couple, in an isolated cabin that needs to be pulled out. They've run out of food and they don't have any skis or snowshoes. The girls 'rents called in a half hour ago to see if we can get them out."

Ron considered this. "I'm willing to bet that we can't get in with snowmobiles, otherwise someone would have just drove in and picked them up."

Kim nodded her head and indicated the map. "The only vehicle access to the cabin is up this valley. There's no road, only a trail. You can take an ATV in the summer or a snowmobile in the winter. The problem is that avalanches have fallen into the valley in at least three places. That's blocked all travel up the valley. The snow is too high and unstable to risk trying to cross it." She shared a look with Ron. "It's all footwork, partner."

Ron faked a sigh. "I guess we don't have to feel guilty about missing our cardiovascular workout tomorrow." Kim snorted and Ron studied the map. After a few minutes he pointed to a road. "Is this highway still open?"

"Yes, but the lowest slide just missed it."

Ron continued while pointing at the map. "So, we get dropped off _here_, scale _this_ cliff and set up a winch at the top. Then we snowshoe up the valley, keeping near the top of _this_ ridge. It should be above any avalanche piles and the prevailing winds should have kept the snow accumulations down. We follow the ridge until we're just above the cabin then drop down, pick up the couple, and guide them back. Once at the cliff, we connect them to the winch and lower them to the highway."

Kim smiled at him. "Just what I was thinking, except I had a little more information. Wade is arranging for some food, good winter gear clothing, extra snowshoes, and a sleigh to carry it all. They aren't equipped so we're going to have to bring in gear for them. We'll feed them before putting them out in the cold."

Ron agreed. "It's cold enough right now and it'll be colder when we get to them. They'll need something in their stomachs before going outside. By the way, who are they?" Kim told him. "Her!?"

Kim favored him with an expression somewhere between a smile and a scowl. "Yep, she and her latest boy-toy decided to grab a little privacy from all of the celebrity press and wound up stranded."

"Kim, I don't mean to criticize but this isn't our usual mission. I mean, that family is wealthy enough to hire some help on their own. Why are we taking this one on?"

"Three reasons, partner. First of all, all of the professional help is either all tied up in the resort rescues or is at least two full days away. Secondly, this will be the first mission since your hip has healed. It isn't a life-or-death struggle, but some climbing and a whole lot of tough hiking will tell us if you're back at full capacity. Thirdly, we don't have any other requests at this time, so we will do what we can."

Ron nodded his acceptance. "If nothing else, she's so small that we can probably carry her out if we have to. I don't know about her latest boy-toy, but she seems to like them big and buff, so he should be able to keep up with us."

The two teens settled back and napped for the rest of the ride. They reached the resort town just before dawn on Saturday. Their ride took them to a bus depot where they picked up the additional gear Wade had sent, then took them out to their drop off point. From there, they executed the plan they had discussed earlier. Three more hours of hard activity saw them high on the ridge, looking down at the cabin.

They were about twenty minutes out, so they called the girl's parents and had them warn the couple that rescue was about to arrive. Like Ron said, the couple might just be 'staying warm' and showing up _then_ might be embarrassing, educational, but embarrassing. It turns out that they didn't need to worry. The couple, who had only met two weeks earlier, was hungry, scared, and blaming each other for being trapped. The only reason that they weren't yelling at each other when Kim and Ron arrived was that they had already yelled each other out. Much to Kim's shock, Ron took charge of the situation and started to relieve the tension.

Ron lugged the spare gear into the small cabin and 'asked' Kim to unload the winter gear and help the couple try it on. While she was doing this, he busied himself with the food they had brought and the cabin's propane stove. Soon, the smells of a good meal filled the cabin. The two teens then fitted the couple with snowshoes and had them practice walking around the cabin while Ron finished the meal. The quasi-celebrities were much calmer after they had eaten. It was time to hike out.

Unfortunately for the teen team, the couple still wasn't talking to each other and they both felt like talking. Ron escaped the worst of it since the couple thought that he was some form of rescue-chef. Kim, however, had a very long hike out. The heiress deluged Kim with invitations to parties and events, saying that the teen was 'hot' and should make herself more visible. The boy-toy kept hitting on her, saying that the two of them could be headlining all the gossip shows. Not only was Kim not interested in the offers, she quickly became tired of the conversation. With a surreptitious wink to Ron, she picked up the pace.

This move had the desired effect of stopping the conversation by forcing the couple to gasp for air rather than talk. However, Ron paid the price this time. The heiress couldn't keep up the pace and collapsed from exhaustion. They had no choice but to load her in the sleigh so that Ron could haul her behind him. Ron was definitely feeling the strain by the time they reached the cliff, but he took some consolation in the fact that the buff boy-toy was struggling to keep up with him.

Once at the cliff, the teens realized that the heiress had called her publicist while riding the sleigh. The road below was filled with photographers. The teens shrugged their shoulders and lashed the boy-toy into a lowering seat and connected him to the winch. Ron prepared to descend and guide the man while Kim operated the winch. The man leered at Kim and said that he would rather have her clinging to him on the way down. After Kim gave him the choice of a conscious or unconscious descent, he chose conscious with Ron guiding him. Once he got the boy-toy down, Ron climbed back up and repeated the process for the heiress.

From the top of the cliff, he could see the boy-toy, surrounded my media, obviously relishing the spotlight. That same media pack ignored him the moment the heiress appeared at the top of the cliff. Ron saw a sea of camera lenses pointing in his direction as he started down, guiding the heiress's descent. He quickly flashed Kim a miserable look and swore she giggled at him. The heiress was scared, so Ron kept up a steady chatter with her, letting her know what was happening and telling her of the progress they had made. When they reached the ground, he was surprised that she followed his request to walk to the other side of the highway. The media followed her, which allowed Kim to lower the gear to Ron without worrying about anybody getting in the way.

By the time Kim had lowered the winch to Ron, both the heiress and her boy-toy had left, with most of the media following them. The few that remained got some great pictures of Kim performing an Australian rappel. With Kim on the ground, Ron gratefully faded into the background and packed their gear while Kim spoke to the remaining reporters. After a few questions almost all of the remaining media left. One last reporter, from a local station, gave the teens a ride back to the bus depot. Kim and Ron answered a few more questions on the way.

Their ride back to Middleton was two hours away from picking them up, so the teens had a chance to clean and stow their gear, then finish most of their homework. Finally, they were in the back of a drafty service van on the way back to Middleton. Ron did a quick calculation and estimated that they would arrive home at about 3:00 AM the following morning. Thank goodness today was Saturday.

Kim and Ron decided that finishing their homework in the cold van just wouldn't work, so they unbundled their sleeping bags and tried to get some sleep. Crawling into the bags while trying to stay on the single bench seat was awkward at best, so they unzipped the bags to make blankets and crawled under them. Ron fell asleep immediately but Kim stayed awake for awhile, thinking.

Before Kim had driven her into exhaustion, the heiress had talked a lot about the various men that had passed through her life. She talked about the actors, the rich boys, the models, and the athletes. She had then asked Kim about the men in her life. Kim had admitted, honestly, that she had only ever had one real boyfriend and that it had been a little awkward. She had then pointed out that between her hero-work and her student activities, she really didn't have much time to devote to the boyfriend thing. The heiress had immediately said that she was silly and that a girl as recognizable and as hot as her should have several gorgeous hunks lined up.

Kim shook her head. While she had no intention of _ever_ going through relationships at that rate, she did have to admit that she felt a little lonely when she saw the teen couples in high school. She also felt lonely when the other girls on the squad talked about their boyfriends. She sighed, she didn't consider herself boy-crazy by any means, she just thought it would be nice to have a guy to do things with. She snorted a quiet laugh while thinking of the power couple they had just rescued. She did _not_ want a relationship like that. A day trapped together and they were at each other's throats. If not for her and Ron…

Ron.

She looked at him, sleeping next to her. Talk about a guy to do things with, they did everything together! She giggled as she thought about the other girls talking about where they went and what they did with their boyfriends. She couldn't remember any of their stories involving scuba diving, paragliding, skydiving or freak fighting. They had been on the cheerleading squad together, did homework together, went to see movies together and hung out on weekends with each other. He was one of the reasons that she and Josh had broken up and she was one of the reasons for him and Sue splitting. Apparently neither Josh nor Sue could come to grips with the friendship they shared.

Back when they were freshmen and sophomores, he had embarrassed her. He seemed to have the same old Middle School attitude towards life and it hadn't adapted to High School. Even at the beginning of this year he had seemed childish most of the time. Sure, when she needed him on the missions he always stepped up but he seemed so lazy and needy the rest of the time. That had changed when he had returned from Japan. Oh, he still liked to be silly when he could but he had really become responsible with his life. He must have experienced some major revelations during that week at Yamanouchi.

That thought brought a frown to her face and a name to her mind, Yori. It bothered her that he had shared some upsetting incident with Yori, but not with her. It bothered her when Yori showed up and Ron had immediately leapt to her assistance. It had really bothered her when she had kissed him. Why should she be concerned about a pretty girl kissing Ron on the cheek?

Come to think of it, Monique was right and it had really bothered her when she saw him with Sue. She had admitted that she was jealous of the time he had spent with Sue but was that as far as it had gone? Was she jealous that Sue was another girl? Why was she threatened that Yori, thousands of miles away, was so clearly fond of him?

Did that make him her crush?

She surprised herself by not laughing at the idea. She studied him a little more. He had really changed since the beginning of the school year. The 'never be normal' outcast had changed into a friendly, respectable student. Oh, he still wasn't big on normalcy but he was more funny than weird. She now realized that for the first two years of high school, she had stayed friends with him due to their long history. Now, he was definitely good friend material.

Maybe good boyfriend material?

She snorted. That would take some getting used to. After over a dozen years of friendship, she wasn't going to be able to look at him like _that_ overnight. Even if she wanted to, which she wasn't sure that she did. She remembered both Tara and Yori. Both girls had obvious crushes on him and he had flat out missed it both times. But then again, with over a dozen years of friendship behind them, she had plenty of time to make up her mind, and act on it if she chose to.

He had taken off his parka and snow pants before covering himself with his sleeping bag, leaning up against the side of the van and drifting off. She had done the same and was feeling just a little too chilly to sleep. Impulsively, she threw her sleeping bag over his and wormed her way under the two, with him. She noticed that it was much warmer even as she rested her head on his shoulder. Sure, she had slept under the same blankets with him, even resting her head on his shoulder like this, before. But never while thinking of him like this.

_I could get used to this_, she thought as her eyelids got heavier.

Both teens slept peacefully for the rest of their ride.


	35. Whirlwind

C**hapter 34: Whirlwind**

_So this is a whirlwind,_ Ron thought. _Where did the last two months go?_

Shortly after helping rescue the 'ungrateful couple,' Ron had found himself in a whirlwind of missions, sporting issues, and troubling friendship issues.

The missions were troubling. Dr. Drakken was clearly up to something but Team Possible couldn't figure out what it was. First, the mad scientist had captured several scientists from the Middleton Space Center, Kim's own father among them! In the end, Team Possible had rescued the scientists but Drakken had escaped with most of the research files about something called The Hephaestus Project. Unfortunately, the research was restricted and all of the scientists, Dr. Possible included, flat out refused to discus it beyond saying that it centered on 'reactive metal' of some sort.

Drakken was on the move again less than a week later. This time Shego was trying to kidnap the CEO of one of Japan's largest toy manufacturers. Again, Team Possible had thwarted Drakken but he had scared the company's board of directors very badly. All of the five-member board, including the CEO, had gone into hiding and now ran the company through personal assistants.

Then there was the mission to the resort called The Bermuda Triangle, down in the Caribbean. Wade had discovered that Drakken and Shego were heading down there to purchase some information. The teens had infiltrated the resort and had forced the villains to flee but not before Drakken had purchased the information he had wanted. It turned out that he was seeking the whereabouts of a Dr. Hertz Megahenry. Dr. Megahenry had been a lead researcher in the old Soviet Union and had vanished when the wall came down. Rumor had him living underground, selling his services to various technovillains. Just what those services were, Wade had not yet found out. He was currently trying to find out what the doctor had done for the old Soviet Government.

What was most troubling was that Drakken wasn't following his usual method of operation. Usually he either built or stole some device then immediately threatened world conquest. He was trying something different this time, putting several pieces together, and Ron, Kim and Wade just couldn't figure out what it could be. The fact that he was acting so differently brought up the disturbing prospect that he was also doing things that they didn't even detect.

Aside from the missions, there was an issue with Ron's favorite teen hangout, Bueno Nacho. BN's parent corporation had been purchased and Ron wasn't happy with the changes. The food quality had dropped and the place was no longer the friendly, 'come in and hang out' sort of place that it used to be. Ron had limited himself to two BN meals during the week and two more during weekends, so the change wasn't exactly traumatic. But it bothered him that his beloved if somewhat estranged temple to junk food consumption had changed so much. According to Wade, the new owners were remodeling the BN corporate headquarters, located about forty miles away, into something resembling a hardened, military command bunker.

Wrestling wasn't completely done with Ron for the year. Ron had been injured when the Kid's Wrestling Season had started, so he wasn't one of the assistants but he volunteered to help as soon as he was healed up. Oscar was an assistant Kid's Wrestling Coach, and informed Ron that his primary duty was being a dog-pile target for a swarm of hyperactive pre-teens. Yet Ron was determined to help out, so he had spent three Saturdays, with most of his teammates, helping at tournaments by keeping score at matches and trying to keep order. The kids had a great time and the tweebs had both done very well. Ron predicted that he would be on the receiving end of more ambushes whenever he visited the Possibles' home.

Beyond missions and volunteering, Ron's last two months had been the best that he could remember. He stayed with his routine: Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises every morning, walk to school with KP, classes, walk home with KP and try to sneak in a sparring session, dinner, homework, bed. It was great! He was busy, he had good friends, he was improving his mission skills, and his good grades kept Barkin off of his neck. He and KP averaged four sparring sessions a week and she claimed that they were helping her as well as him. All in all there was only one current issue with his life that was exciting him and worrying him at the same time.

Kim was flirting with him.

It had started after their 'Mountain Rescue' mission. One of Ron's idiosyncrasies was his heavy sleeping. He could sleep through most noises and lights that would wake up anybody else but put him in a moving vehicle and he immediately woke up if said vehicle dropped from highway to city speeds. Thus, he had woken up as their ride pulled into Middleton in the wee hours of the morning. The two of them were bundled under their bags, Kim sleeping with her head on his shoulder.

That was nothing unusual. Over the past couple of years, the two of them had been forced to sleep in cramped quarters and a decade long previous friendship had meant that they had adjusted to this with a minimum of embarrassment. What was unusual was her reaction when he woke her up. At first, there had been the usual glance around to get her bearings. Then, instead of simply sitting up, she had given him a wide, warm smile and nuzzled his shoulder before reaching for her parka. He had been surprised but had assumed that her face had had an itch, which she had scratched on his sweater.

If this had been an isolated incident, he would have quickly forgotten it. However, he soon realized that she wasn't behaving towards him the way that she used to. First of all, there were the smiles. He was used to her smiling at him. She had an amused smile, a friendly smile, a 'good job' smile, and a condescending smile. The smiles she had for him now, every day, weren't those smiles. They were much more like the smiles she had given Josh while she was both crushing on him and dating him. Those smiles had cranked his heart rate up and left him more than a little nervous.

Then there was the physical contact. Again, their long years of friendship had inured them to the occasional brush up against each other. But this wasn't incidental contact. Now, when they walked to and from school she kept close to him, with her shoulder in almost constant contact with him. He had experimented by slowly edging away from her and she had followed him the entire way. When they caught a movie, or watched TV at her place, she also kept her shoulder in contact with him. The kicker was homework. Starting last week, as they sat across from each other at the Possibles' table, she would extend her legs and hook her foot around his calf. Whenever he looked up, she would flash him that smile then look down, demurely.

While the smiles and the contact were the selling points, her general behavior around him had also changed. She seemed, somehow, more attentive and supportive than she had ever been before. It didn't help that his crush on her, although it had been buried deep, was still very much alive. He was flirting back and this troubled him. He remembered the harsh lesson she had taught him when she had just started crushing on Josh; a lesson he still couldn't bring himself to discuss with her even though he had described it to Yori.

Had things changed? He looked at himself in the mirror. No, he wasn't handsome by any stretch of the imagination but he wasn't unsightly either. He thought about the past wrestling season. No, he wasn't really a big winner but he definitely wasn't a loser. He thought about his classes. No, he wasn't the head of the class but he was closer to the top than the bottom. He thought about his social life. He wasn't Mr. Popular but he wasn't a loner. All in all he came to the conclusion that he was an average, everyday, teenage boy...who helped save the world from mad scientists every other week or so. Maybe that was enough. Ron reached a decision.

The Junior Prom would take place in two weeks. Ron had already rented a tux, intending on going 'stag.' But if KP hadn't found a date by the end of this week, he would ask her to go with him. And it wouldn't be a 'just friends' sort of thing. He would ask her like any other boy asking a girl for a date. With that, he left his room and headed over to KP's house, ready to start another Monday.

Kim had enjoyed her walk to school with Ron, like she always did these days. She had admitted to herself that she would really like to try to be more than friends with him and it looked like he felt the same way. After some initial shyness, he had started to respond to her flirting with some rather impressive counter-flirting of his own. It was too bad that he wouldn't be at cheer practice tonight but since he had stated, last week, that he intended to try out for football next fall, it just didn't make sense for him to try to come back as the Mad Dog. She went through her day, said goodbye to Ron as he headed to the Weight Room and headed to the Locker Room to change for practice.

Bonnie Rockwaller was ready and waiting. She had arranged this carefully; the only other two girls in the Locker Room were firmly in her posse and well rehearsed about what they were going to do. If there was one thing that Bonnie just _hated_, it was to see Kim Possible happy. She had spent weeks flaunting the fact that she, and most of the other girls on the squad, had steady boyfriends while Kim didn't. Possible had actually gotten a little depressed but then she had started flirting with Stoppable! Stoppable was flirting right back! Earlier this year, Bonnie would have been satisfied with this development but not now. Stoppable had shocked her and turned himself into something! Possible and Stoppable were clearly within days of dating, and if they started dating they would be getting really close, really fast. Bonnie had no intention of letting Kim wind up with that kind of emotional support.

Kim came in and went straight to her locker. On cue, Melissa spoke up. "So Bonnie, has Brick asked you yet?"

"Of course," Bonnie replied. "He did two weeks ago. We picked out his tux to go with my dress. We're going to look so good! How about you?"

"I'm going with Brian."

"The shot-put champion? That's great! How about you, Lisa?"

"I'm going with Chuck," the remaining girl answered.

"Oh, the captain of the Lacrosse team?" Bonnie asked.

"That's him," Lisa answered. "Oh, Kim, how about you?"

"How about me what?" Kim asked.

"Who are you going to the Prom with?" Lisa's expression was all innocence.

"Well…I don't exactly have a date yet." Kim admitted.

That was Bonnie's cue. "Lisa, you know that Kim goes out on those Team Possible missions all the time. That doesn't give her a lot of time to find and keep a quality boyfriend."

"Oh, that must be rough, and there's only a couple of weeks left." Lisa's voice dripped sympathy for Kim.

"It's no big," Kim countered. "I've missed dances before."

"C'mon Kim," Bonnie jumped in. "This isn't just any dance, this is the only Junior Prom you'll ever have. Don't you think that the girl who saves the world deserves a hot date for her Junior Prom?"

Kim stared at Bonnie. There was no mocking in her tone.

"Hasn't Stoppable even asked you?" Melissa asked, as per the plan.

"No, we're not exactly dating, if you know what I mean."

"I know that the two of you are flirting," Lisa cut in. "Isn't that a turn-off for other guys?"

"What's wrong with Ron?" Kim demanded, just as Bonnie had predicted she would.

"There's nothing wrong with Ron," Bonnie replied, her compliment catching Kim off guard. "I mean, when the bad guys show up or some poor, little girl is missing, there's no guy I'd rather have around." Kim's was clearly having trouble believing that Bonnie was saying this. "But we're talking about dating here, Kim. We're talking about the statement that your date makes about you. Now, Ron's a great guy but let's be honest here, he isn't exactly hot, is he?"

"No," Melissa took up the conversation. "And it's really too bad. I mean, if a guy that sweet just had the looks, wow!"

Bonnie sat back and let the other two girls work on Kim, just like that poster on the website told her to do. There was no insulting Stoppable, just hints that he was missing…something. She didn't know who 'hottieingreen' was, but she assumed it was another girl. Since Bonnie had confessed her irritation about a certain red-haired heroine in an 'I hate Kim Possible' chat room, that girl had really let her in on which buttons to push to get to little Miss Kimmie.

After a few minutes, just like hottieingreen suggested, she pulled out her trump card. It was a celebrity-watch type of magazine. "You know Kim," Bonnie said, conversationally. "It's really sweet that you're thinking of dating him and let's be honest, for ninety percent of the girls in this school he'd be a great boyfriend. But not for you." Bonnie opened the magazine and showed pictures of when Kim and Ron had rescued the heiress and her boy-toy. "You're famous," Bonnie explained. "But your friend doesn't want to be seen. You made a great picture rappelling down that cliff and this picture of Ron coming down with _her_ is nice too. But what happened after everyone was down? Didn't Ron just sort of fade off into the background?"

Kim nodded. Lisa took up the tale.

"What you need, Kim, is a guy who will walk right up to those cameras with you. I mean, Ron's a great guy and all, but he just doesn't have it in him to be a spotlight kind of guy."

"Yeah," Melissa chimed in, "and think of poor Ron. All those reporters around you are getting to him and he doesn't like it much. Imagine if the two of you were to start dating. He'd _really_ be in the spotlight then, wouldn't he?"

Bonnie sat back and listened to her posse continue. _Kim looks good in the spotlight. Ron hates the spotlight. If they dated, Ron would be faced with more of the spotlight. Kim needed a good-looking guy who would be at home in the spotlight._

Perfect! Bonnie could tell that Kim was beginning to think that dating Stoppable was a bad idea. Hottieingreen was right: don't put Stoppable down, just drive in the point that they weren't compatible as a dating couple. Whoever it was, she really knew Kim.


	36. New Students

C**hapter 35: New Students.**

Ron stared ahead as he walked to school. It was another Monday, just a week since he had been prepared to ask Kim for a date. How could so much change in just a week? He wanted to cram his hands in his pockets, slump his shoulders and stare at his shoes. No way, he wouldn't allow himself to look defeated. After all, he hadn't even fought so how could he have been beaten?

_She_ had been her usual smiling, cheerful self when he walked her to school last Monday but she had seemed very down when Ron walked her home. He tried to get her to talk but she would only say that she had had 'a bad Locker Room talk.' All day Tuesday she was depressed. She kept looking at him with a mixture of sadness and guilt. She wasn't flirting with him anymore and their Kung Fu training was very subdued. Had she realized what she was doing? Then came Wednesday, Ron ground his teeth just thinking of that day.

* * *

Ron had a Dentist Appointment over his lunch break on Wednesday, so he took his scooter to school. Kim was distant. She didn't want to ride with him to school and she didn't want to hang around and talk at her locker like she usually did. When Ron tried to hang out with her she told him that he was going to be late for Homeroom if he didn't hurry and get his books. Ron knew a brush-off when he heard one.

Ron did his best to keep his mind on his classes until the lunch break. On his way back from the dentist he nearly collided with another boy, on a scooter, pulling into the school parking lot. Ron parked his scooter and went to meet the other boy. "Excuse me," he said, "you must be new here. You just drove in the exit and I nearly crashed into you. That would be a real pity since your machine is a whole lot better than mine."

The other boy took off his helmet. He had looks and a build that Ron could only dream of ever possessing. "Sorry about that," he said, "I _am_ new here. In fact, it's my first day and I'm late."

"Since I'm heading that way, mind if I show you the way to the office?"

"That would be great, thanks, my name's Eric by the way."

"Ron. Nice to meet you." The two boys shook hands and went inside.

On the way to the office they encountered Kim, busy pulling books out of her locker.

"Hey Kim!" Ron greeted his friend. She looked up at him, then at Eric. "Oh, introductions. Kim, I'd like you to meet Eric, a new student. Eric, this is Kim, my best friend."

"Hello," Eric looked at Kim in wide-eyed wonder.

"Uh…er...hi," Kim replied with a flustered look.

Ron knew that look. It was a wide-eyed gaze with a too-wide grin, accompanied by indecisive stammering.

Ron's heart had plummeted to his stomach.

* * *

So here he was, walking to school while coming to terms with the fact that he had personally introduced Kim to her new crush and obviously soon to be next boyfriend. Eric had already asked her to the prom and she had accepted. The only good thing to come out of this, for Ron at least was that Bonnie and her posse were even more steamed than he was.

But it _really_ tanked! He _knew_ that Kim and he had been so close to stepping past being just friends. He _knew_ that she had been looking at him the way she had used to look at Josh and the way she was now looking at Eric. What had happened to change all of that? Sure, Eric was waaaaayyy better looking than he was but Kim had started to brush him off before even meeting the new boy. What was up with that?

_It must have been the_ Ron Factor _looking out for me again_. He decided. _I'm down enough the way it is. Imagine what I would be like right now if I had asked her to the prom, she had said yes, then she dumped me for the new guy. I wouldn't have been able to force my head up. I'm such an idiot! I had learned my lesson when she was with Josh. Once should have been enough but nooooo! Dumb Ron's gotta set himself up all over again. Maybe this time the lesson will stick. _But it still tanked!

This morning had been the lowest yet. He had shown up to walk Kim to school, like always, and she had already caught a ride on Eric's scooter. _I wasn't even worth a phone call. It's not even like she had to punch all seven numbers. I'm on her speed dial. At least I was last week_. Mrs. Dr. P had seemed very upset by the fact that Kim hadn't called but Ron had attempted to pass it off as 'no big.' After all, there was sure to be worse to come.

By Friday of last week, Bonnie and her posse had pretty much figured out that Kim and Eric were in a mutual crush. They had also known that Kim had been flirting with Ron for a couple of weeks prior to that. The posse was steamed about Kim finding a hottie and he, Ron, was the only available target for their irritation. The barbed comments had started hitting Ron that afternoon. The whole posse had had the entire weekend to polish up their wits. Ron knew that he would be in for it today. He also knew that he would have a harder time if he had to see Kim with Eric, so he walked around the school and deliberately avoided the hall by her locker.

He kept his head up and his stride deliberate. He _refused_ to slump and shamble. He simply marched up to his locker and started shuffling his books for his morning classes. He remembered back to when Kim was dating Josh. He would handle this the same way. He would keep busy and keep his mind occupied. Tonight, Wednesday, and Friday he would put in two hours on the weights. Tuesday and Thursday he would work out with Oscar and a couple other hard-core wrestlers. He would continue hisTai Sheng Pek Kwar training in the mornings. And he would go to his prom on Saturday, even if it meant going 'stag.'

Ron had just thrown his backpack over his shoulder and closed his locker when a running mass plowed into him from behind. He hadn't been attacked. His experience with high school bullies, hired thugs, and off-kilter villains had taught him the difference between an attack and an accidental collision. He heard a shriek, stumbled forward, put one foot under him, then spun around. He caught a glimpse of a flying book bag and a falling mass of brunette hair.

Ron snapped his left hand out and caught the book bag, and caught the brunette with his right arm. She, and Ron could now see that it was a girl, grabbed his shoulders to steady herself. She then looked up at him and Ron's heart cranked up to a 'run away from Shego' rate while his eyebrows made a valiant attempt to slap the top of his scalp. The brunette's hair had settled, in a soft wave, around a tanned and lovely face, which itself surrounded a pair of wide, impossibly deep blue eyes. Her full lips opened and closed, obviously trying to say something. A faint blush appeared on her incredibly smooth, soft cheeks.

"I…er…uh…a…are you alright?" He finally managed to stammer out. He was sure that he was breaking out in a major blush himself but he didn't much care right now.

"Y-Y-Yes. S-Sorry about that, I don't know the way to my classroom and I was running and not paying much attention. Thank you." She removed her hands, slowly, from Ron's shoulders while he took his arm from around her waist with equal reluctance. He then returned her book bag. "Thanks again."

"No big," he replied. "You must be new here. First period is always Homeroom, who do you have as a teacher?"

"Mr. Barkin."

"So do I. His room is just down the hall and we have a few minutes before the bell rings. If you don't mind, we could go to Homeroom then you can tell me the rest of your classes and I can show you the way to your other classrooms."

"Mind? That would be sweet of you! I heard that the boys in the Midwest were gentlemen. I guess it's true."

Ron smiled and guided her towards their Homeroom. "I don't know about the gentleman part but it's my pleasure to help. By the way, my name is Ron."

"Well Ron, you sure seem like a gentleman. My name is Dessie."

"Nice to meet you, Dessie, here we are." The two teens had reached Mr. Barkin's Homeroom. Ron introduced the new girl to Mr. Barkin, who assigned her a seat. Ron joined her and they reviewed her upcoming classes. It turned out that they had five classes together. For the other two classes, their rooms were close by, which would allow Ron to show her to these rooms.

"It looks like I ran into the perfect guy on my first day of school today." She gushed at him. Ron figured that whatever generated his blushes would break down from overwork soon. "I-I-I'm just glad to help out, y'know?" He managed to reply.

"By the way, Stoppable?" Mr. Barkin interrupted. "I was watching the hallway when the two of you had your little collision." He looked meaningfully at Dessie. "Nice catch, Stoppable."

Both Dessie and Ron blushed furiously. Ron went to his seat while additional students started to file into Homeroom.

By lunchtime Bonnie Rockwaller was fuming. Just last week everything was going perfectly. She had managed to head off Possible's and Stoppable's 'soon to be' relationship, making both of them miserable. Then some gorgeous hunk appears out of nowhere and falls for Possible. Bonnie had been back to the website but hottieingreen wasn't answering her emails and Bonnie's own schemes hadn't been able to break up Kim and Eric. Her last hope had been to heckle Ron to tears but several students had observed Ron's 'nice catch' that morning and Dessie was politely brushing off conversation attempts from any boy other than Ron. Bonnie had emailed hottieingreen again, but she still hadn't answered. What was with that girl? It was almost as if she didn't mind Possible and Stoppable being happy, as long as they weren't together.


	37. The New Girl

**Chapter 36: The New Girl**

Dessie had excused herself at lunchtime, practically begging Ron to meet her for their first afternoon class. Ron agreed then went to his usual table, where he met up with the usual bunch: Oscar, Cindy, Monique, and Felix. He frowned again; as of Friday, Kim had quit sitting with the usual group and had started sitting outside, where she met with Eric. Ron unpacked his lunch and distributed the mandatory samples to his four closest friends and a few, other nearby students. He had just started to dig in when he noticed that his four companions were all staring at him with large smiles.

"What?" he asked them all in general. They all giggled at him.

"What do you think, Ron?" Monique answered. "You just spent most of the morning with a beautiful, mystery girl. Spill! What's the story with you two?"

"There isn't any story. She, quite literally, ran into me this morning. She's new and nervous and we share most of our classes. No big." All four of his close friends laughed out loud.

"Ron, she's blowing off everyone but you." Cindy pointed out. "You made an impression on her. Are you going to do something about it?"

"I've only known she exists for about four hours." Ron protested, "don't you think_ doing something about it_ is moving a little fast?"

"You're not asking her to marry you," Felix chimed in. "Just ask her to do something after school. Trust me, she'll appreciate it. I remember you inviting me to shoot baskets after my first day here. I really appreciated someone making me feel welcome."

"Ron you didn't!" Oscar demanded.

"Didn't what?" Ron was confused.

"You touched a basketball! How could you? Here I thought you were a decent sort but you touched one of those…_things_. And you do…_that_." Oscar buried his face in his hands. Then he perked back up. "But that was before I introduced you to the true sport, wasn't it? Please tell me you haven't done…_that_…since."

The rest of the group chuckled and shook their heads. Like many serious wrestlers, Oscar jokingly considered basketball to be the most repulsive activity on the planet. Cindy punched him on the arm and told everyone, "now you know what I put up with every day."

"You don't really seem to be suffering much." Monique contradicted.

"No, I'm not." Cindy replied with a warm smile at Oscar. The couple quickly glanced around and seeing no faculty nearby, shared a quick kiss. The other three teens smiled at the couple.

"Let's get back to figuring out what Blondie here's going do about Dessie." Monique interrupted the musings. "What are you doing after class, Ron?"

"I've got two hours in the Weight Room, after which I have a hot, steamy date with the shower. Then it's homework time."

"There you go. Didn't you say the two of you share most of your classes? Invite her over for a study session. Heck, cook dinner for her and knock her socks off."

"No can do, Monique." Ron answered. "My folks are out of town and I've promised no girls over without a chaperone."

Monique understood, as much as he might be tempted, Ron always kept his promises. "That's too bad. If you had unleashed 'The Chef' on her she'd probably be ready to marry you after the first taste."

"_I_ sure was." Oscar chimed in. Cindy punched him again.

"So your place is out, why not a meal at BN and off to the Library?" Monique persisted.

"BN really hasn't been the same since they started giving out those Lil' Diablo toys, but why are you all pushing me to make a move of some sort?" Ron asked. "She just got here and I'm sure she'll find someone a lot better than me."

"You really want to know?" Monique asked. Ron nodded. "It's because you're a genuine good guy and we'd all like to see things work out for you. And if we can all have a little fun at your expense along the way, so much the better." The others smiled their agreement. _And maybe you'll get over the way Kim dropped you without a second glance_, they all thought.

"Okay, fine, you all win." Ron threw up his hands. "I'll ask her for a casual dinner and a study date. Happy?"

"Not as happy as we hope you will be." Felix chimed in. The rest of them laughed at a furiously blushing Ron.

Ron and Dessie met up after their last class, Algebra, and started walking towards his locker. Most of their fellow students were practicing what seemed to be the latest fad, which was staring at the two. Ron could understand the guys looking at Dessie; she was stunning. What he didn't understand was the number of smiles, nods and small waves directed at him. Sue, walking with her new boyfriend, gave him a quick wink.

"So," he broke the silence, "how was your first day at Middleton?"

"Not bad, Ron. I'm really lucky that I met you this morning. You've been a big help."

"The pleasure was all mine." She beamed at him. "How does it look for you in your classes? I mean, I know that it's late in the year and you might have some work ahead to adjust to them."

"There is a little adjustment to take care of but I'm sure I'll catch up."

"Would you like some help with that?" She looked up at him. Ron plunged on. "I mean…I'm free later tonight and if you'd like to meet up at the library or something…"

"Ron," she interrupted. "Are you asking me for a date the very day we met?"

"No…well, yes…well, kinda," Ron stammered while her smile grew. "I mean I know that you've got to be busy just moving in and fitting into the new classes and I really do want to help and you're really…"

Her finger on his lips silenced him and bugged out his eyes. "I hope you're asking me on a date, because the answer will be yes if you are."

"Dlb ylb," she took her finger off of his lips. "Do you mind killing two birds with one stone?" He asked. "We could catch a quick meal at Bueno Nacho then hit the Library for some studying. I know it doesn't sound like much of a date but I really need to keep up in my classwork."

"That's just fine for a weekday," she replied. "My folks would get mad if I let my classes suffer. To be honest we don't have all of our kitchen stuff unpacked, so some fast food action would be welcome. Want to meet there at, say, seven?"

"That would be great!"

"See you then."

Ron floated all the way to the Weight Room.

* * *

Ron held the BN door for Dessie, like a proper gentleman. She smiled as she stepped inside. "Your favorite hangout?" She asked him.

"I guess so. I mean, I used to really like the place but it changed a few weeks ago."

"The kid's menu and the toys?"

"That was irritating but what really got to me was the heavy handed management. By the way, what can I get you?" Ron had seated his date and took her order. A few minutes later he returned with their food.

"You were saying something about heavy handed management?" She asked between bites.

"Yeah, see the little guy behind the counter?" Dessie nodded. "That's Ned and he used to be the manager. He was a friendly guy, knew most of the regulars by our first names. When he ran the place it was a regular teen hangout, a real friendly place. He always let us do school things here, like have celebrations for the Cheerleading Squad winning an award. It was really friendly and I liked it."

"I take it that things have changed?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's become more corporate. See the big guy next to Ned?" Another nod from Dessie. Ron noted that she could be quite cute while doing that before he continued. "He's the new manager. He showed up when the parent-corporation got bought out and he laid down the law. No more 'Hi Ron' or 'Hi Kim.' It's now all sir and ma'am. We can't have our functions here anymore. You know, two months ago we could have done our homework right here with no problems. These days he'll ask you to leave once you finish eating."

"So it's become less personal?"

"That's part of it. The other problem is that the food just isn't as good as it used to be. They used to use real ingredients in the food: real cheese, real refried beans, fresh veggies, and the whole works. Sure it wasn't the best but it _was_ real. The food quality has suffered because of it. I've been on a few chat sites and the change seems to be universal."

"Why do you think this all happened?" Dessie asked.

"I really don't know. I mean I'm just a dumb sixteen year old kid but at first I thought it was some sort of grab the money thing. You know, buy a franchise with an established customer base and drop the cost of each meal by a small amount. You would still have at least a couple of weeks of high sales and you would really rake in the money. I thought that the new owners probably wanted to make a lot of money, really fast, and not worry about the future. Then came the thing with the signs."

"The signs?"

"Yeah, every Bueno Nacho replaced the sign out front. A friend of mine managed to find a copy of the specifications for these new signs and they don't make any sense. He says that while the façade thingy looks like a giant taco the internal metal components are put together like some sort of signal repeater. But the layout won't support any known signal, AM, FM, microwave, anything. To top it all off the mass of the metallic components will support a signal strength well beyond any known use, even for a radio station!" Ron shook his head. "It's almost like someone trashed the franchise's reputation to make some quick money, then blew it on weird signs. It's beyond me, maybe it's some sort of tax or insurance manipulation thing."

Dessie smiled at him and leaned forward. "So you're just a dumb sixteen year old?"

Ron noticed that she unleashed her dimples when she smiled. He had a weakness for dimples. "Hey, I'm just repeating what a lot of very smart people have said. I don't even know if it's true or not." He smiled back. "But since we have defeated the evil combination meals, shall we walk down the street and fight the malicious Algebra beast?"

She laughed at him. "Lead on, my noble champion."

The couple walked to the Library, found an empty table and went to work. Ron soon came to the conclusion that Dessie was at about the same academic level as he was. They spent two hours of fairly intense study. At the end of this time Ron had finished his homework and she was pretty much 'in tune' with her Middleton classes. Finished, the two teens left the Library.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" Ron offered. He told himself he was being gallant but he knew that he was trying to stretch out the time he could be with her.

"That's very polite of you, but no. I have to catch the bus and you're going to be late enough as it is." She smiled at him. "This wasn't a real date but I hope that we can take care of that this weekend. Can I catch you at your locker tomorrow morning?"

"That would be badical."

"It only seems fair, you caught me there this morning." The two shared a laugh. "Ron, do you keep a diary?"

"I've got a journal but I don't write in it every day."

"Tell me, are you going to make an entry today, and if so, what will it say?"

"I will make an entry tonight and it will say that I met a new girl today, that she is both smart and pretty, we had a study date and that I did my best to be a gentleman." Ron replied.

"Well I keep a diary and do you want to know what I'll be writing?" Ron nodded. "I'll say that I met a really cute, sweet guy who showed me around school and helped me with my homework. Then he kissed me goodnight." Her deep blue eyes smoldered when she looked at Ron again. "Now which one of us is going to lie to their diary tonight?"

Ron was in a very, _very_ good mood when he made it home that night.

But later that night his alarm bells started to ring.


	38. Suspicions

**Chapter 37: Suspicions**

Tuesday morning Ron, after his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises, headed for school earlier than usual. He walked right by Kim's locker. Thinking of Kim made him even more suspicious. Very few students were around at this early hour, which made Ron's mission easier. He pulled pencil and paper out of his notebook, wrote a note, and slipped it into a certain locker. After that he ducked into a supply closet and pulled out his cell phone.

"Ron, what's up?" Wade answered his phone.

"Wade, this might just be me going weird but I want you to consider something."

"What's that, Ron?"

"Bueno Nacho, have you checked to see if Drakken might be part of the takeover?"

"Why would he do that?"

"Wade, you were the one who told me about all of the funny stuff with the new signs and I had a conversation that made me think about them. They're very expensive, very labor intensive, but they don't make much sense. Doesn't that sound like Drakken to you?"

"Maybe, but Ron, a fast food franchise?"

"Okay Wade, here's my big kicker. Bueno Nacho has franchises in almost every developed nation and on every continent except Antarctica."

Wade cut in, "so if it _is_ Drakken, he would suddenly have a very impressive transmission network. I'm going to look into this."

"Thanks Wade, you rock."

"By the way, I'm going to check some of our other, known techno-villains. Let's not get so focused on Drakken that we miss something else. Do you have anything else for me?"

"I'm not sure Wade. I want to look into a couple of items here at school. Call me if you find something."

"You got it buddy."

Ron ducked out of the closet and headed for his locker. He was in the process of packing his morning books when Dessie contacted him from behind again. This time, instead of a full out collision, it was a spoon hug. Ron preferred this encounter to last morning's 'run in.'

"Hey Ron," she greeted him." Ready to deal with Tuesday?"

"You better believe it!" The two headed for their first class.

Bonnie's posse had apparently regrouped to a certain extent overnight. Several of the girls approached Dessie; Ron's manners forced him to make introductions. The posse girls inevitably told Dessie that there were plenty of cute guys in the school and that they would be happy to introduce her. Ron was touched that Dessie politely declined the first few offers, then started to become progressively less cordial.

"What is with them?" She asked Ron as they left their fourth period class.

"Whazzat?" Ron replied. He was a little preoccupied at the moment.

"The girls. Most of them are just trying to get to know me but some of them are determined to dictate my social life! That last girl came right up, looked at you like you were a piece of dirt, then flat out told me that she could find me a 'real' boy to show me around! Even if they want to tell me who I can be with, couldn't they show you some manners?"

"Not _that_ bunch." Ron answered. "Dessie, let me be honest. I'm not what you could call a popular person and the social structure of this school adheres to the food chain pretty strong."

"The food chain?" She asked.

"Yeah, you know how the hot, successful and cool kids are at the top of the heap and the less attractive, less successful, and less cool you are the lower you are?" She nodded. "Well, I'm pretty close to the bottom."

"And this _food chain _thing dictates friendships and dating?"

"For a lot of the students here, yes. Even the kids who don't buy into it are affected by it. It's easy for me to say that I don't much care about it since I'm on the business end of it."

"But why are they bringing it up to me? I really don't care about it."

"Dessie, as attractive as you are, you could be near the top of the heap. The fact that you're associating with a bottom dweller makes the elite nervous. If the whole school sees you hanging with me it might mean that the food chain doesn't matter to you. If enough people get that attitude it will cease to exist. The elite don't much care for that."

"So what do the elite do about it?"

"They make an example of anyone who bucks the trend. Trust me, if you keep hanging with me _you_ are going to be on the receiving end before too much longer. I guess it's sort of like feudal Europe. The elite are the nobility and bottom dwellers like me are the serfs. The nobility knows that if the serfs were to all get together and tell them to get lost, they'd be out. So they don't let the serfs band together. As soon as anybody, noble or serf, starts to buck the trend they strike. The food chain elite have just substituted barbed comments and innuendo for torture chambers."

Sue shook her head, "that's just stupid."

"I won't argue with you there. It's wrong but Middleton High's hallways did help me understand my European History class a whole lot better."

She looked at him. "Well I for one couldn't care less what they say. I'll hang with, and date, anybody I want to. Care to join me for lunch?"

"Lunch time's my time to hang with some friends, want to join us?"

Her smile faded just a bit. "No thanks, but catch you afterwards?"

"Absolutely."

Ron left Dessie and made his way to his locker. Monique was waiting for him there.

"I got your note," she said. "What is it you needed?"

Ron looked around. There were no other students nearby and the hallway noises would keep anybody else from overhearing them. "I need the services of the school's premier gossip-monger and dirt-digger."

Monique smiled wide. "You want to scope out Dessie, don't you?"

Ron dropped his head. _Am I that obvious?_ Then he straightened up again. "Yes, but it probably isn't what you're thinking. She's hitting on me and it has me just a little suspicious. Happy and flattered, yes, but I'm still a little suspicious."

Monique gave him a disbelieving look. "You're going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Boy, that girl has got it _going on_! What's wrong with you?" _And Kim flat out left you hanging; this is perfect for you, Blondie!_

"Monique, just humor me on this one. I want to find out where she lives, what her folks do, and where they came from. When I tried asking some of these questions last night, she moved on to other topics very gracefully. The fact that she had me in brain-freeze made it a lot easier for her."

"Yes!" Monique pumped her arm in triumph.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"The rumors are true! I'd heard that the two of you went out last night. Boy, you are in for some questioning when we hit the Lunchroom. Not to mention Cindy owes me five bucks."

"Fine, now I'll make you a deal. If you dig up what you can, I'll give you a fairly spicy item that I haven't even told Kim about. It will also explain why I'm asking you to scope out Dessie."

"Are your folks back in town yet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm off tonight so I'll meet you tonight, at your place, and let you know what I've found out. That way you can give me my tidbit in private."

"Deal!"

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Monique was nervous as she rang the Stoppable's doorbell. She was nervous because she just hadn't been able to dig up anything that she had promised Ron.

Ron, thinking of him brought a smile to her face. He had been subject to every bit as much good-natured kidding and interrogation as she had warned him to expect. By the end of lunch his face had been every bit as red as the tomatoes in his salad. But he had been a real sport about it, adding his own jokes and keeping the banter light. It was sad to think that this was one of the few times a group of students had ribbed him in fun, as opposed to the cruel heckling he was used to from Bonnie and her posse.

"Hello, Mrs. Stoppable," she greeted Ron's mother when she opened the door. "Is Ron home?"

"Yes Monique, he's down in the basement washing his workout clothes." The older woman shuddered at the thought of those clothes. "He should be up in a minute. You can wait in his room if you'd like."

This struck Monique as odd, even as she headed up the stairs to Ron's room. It didn't seem…proper. His 'rents forbade girls over when they weren't around but they let a girl go to his room? _They must be so used to Kim and Ron being so close that they don't realize how unusual it is_, she decided. Then she reached his room and looked around. She smiled to herself since this was her first unescorted foray into an unrelated, teenaged male's bedroom.

The first thing that she noticed was that it wasn't anywhere near as dirty and cluttered as Kim's stories had led her to believe it would be. Either Kim was exaggerating or Ron had shaped up some since Kim's last tale. The room wasn't exactly 'dress-right-dress' military orderly but it was actually tidier than her own room. Sure the clothes hamper was overflowing a little and the covers had been simply pulled up over the bed, but all the dirty clothes were _in_ the hamper and all of the blankets were _on_ the bed.

She looked at the various pictures and posters he had on his walls. There was a WWA poster featuring Pain King and Steel Toe but what dominated his room was pictures of Kim and Ron. Monique could almost track her two friends' growing up progress from these pictures despite the fact that none of them were dated. The earliest picture showed the two as just a year or two older than toddlers and the latest picture showed the two earlier this year. _So close,_ she thought. _Those two are sooo close. It's almost like they're twins. Kim, can you understand what you're risking by ignoring him? Or have you gotten so used to having this that you don't think about it any more? What I wouldn't give to be so close and special to another person like this. _

She shook her head in envy and continued to study the pictures on his walls. One section of a wall seemed to be dedicated to the wrestling squad. She saw two school-paper cutouts of the entire squad posing behind trophies. _The Divisional and Regional championships that the squad won this year_, she realized after reading the accompanying articles. Another picture showed those who had qualified for the Sectional Tournament and another showed the four wrestlers who had qualified for the State Tournament. She continued her tour.

Another section of the wall supported pictures of his other friends. Monique stifled a giggle when she came across a picture of her, Kim, Felix and Ron. She remembered when Kim's mother had taken that shot. The four of them had just finished an entire Saturday on a volunteer park cleanup. Monique had lain across Felix's lap, Kim was standing behind his wheelchair and Ron was sitting in front of it. The smiles were huge. A couple of other pictures showed him and Felix playing video games. A final one showed Felix, Ron, and Oscar fishing. _He really appreciates his friends_.

Monique finally came to a section of wall away from the door. _The so-called 'I love me' wall_. Here was the small placard that Ron had received when his teammates had voted him 'most improved.' Below the placard was his varsity letter and below that was a strip of cloth with eleven, decorated safety pins. Below the pins were pictures of the presentation ceremonies at the five tournaments at which he had placed. _Two first-place and three-second place finishes. That's pretty impressive for his first year. _

_I wonder if this is some sort of insight into his mind,_ Monique thought. _He displays his personal triumphs in an out-of-the way place, but dominates his room with pictures of himself spending time with his friends._ Her musings were cut short by Ron's arrival.

"Oh, hi Monique," he said, looking somewhat startled. "I wasn't expecting you so soon."

"OHY." Ron looked confused. "Oh, hi yourself. I'm a little bit early because I haven't been able to find out much about your dreamgirl."

"That just might answer my questions after all." Ron looked troubled. "Just what have you found out?"

"Only that she's female!" Monique was exasperated. "I mean she hasn't given out any meaningful information to anybody. Every time anybody I know has tried to get her to open up, she just gives her the slip. About the only thing that we know is that she comes to school from the east."

"That's about all I could figure out, as well." Groused Ron, "and that has me worried."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you think that it's a little weird that a hot girl shows up and starts hitting on me?"

"I don't follow you."

"Drop-dead gorgeous girls just don't crush on guys like me like that. A jock, like Brick, or a hot guy, like Josh, I could understand. Why me?"

Monique shook her head, confused. "You don't think any girl would want to date you? C'mon you dated Sue, and I heard that Tara had a crush on you a while back. And didn't Kim say that that cute Japanese girl, Yori, was crushing as well?"

Ron set one thigh across his desk and leaned back against the wall. "Believe it or not, I'm not in a pity-fest here. I know that I'm potential date material for at least some girls, even attractive girls, but not at first sight. Let's look at the three examples you gave me. All three of those girls got to know me before they showed any…romantic interest in me. Dessie just showed up out of the blue and started to hit on me."

"And you have a problem with this, why?"

Ron stood up, turned to the wall, and gathered his thoughts. "Monique, you're hot so you might not understand my side of it." Ron missed Monique's eyes widening. He turned around to face her again, his arms held slightly out to his sides. "Look at me and pretend that you have just stepped into Middleton High for the first time ever. I'm the first guy who greets you. Do you start hitting on me, right away, or do you at least check out some other guys first?"

"Ron…I…uh," she stammered.

"Be honest, you aren't going to hurt my feelings."

Monique really studied him for the first time in _that_ light. She saw a very average looking guy with a friendly, goofy face and oversized ears. He wasn't buff; in fact he looked a little undersized. His clothing covered the wiry, athletic body that Monique's knew he possessed. No, Ron's initial, physical, presentation wasn't anything special. His attractiveness came from his friendliness, his sense of humor, his upbeat personality and above all his utterly boundless loyalty.

_He isn't the kind of guy you plan a two-week fling with_, Monique realized. _He's the kind of guy you plan a future with. Or the kind of guy you stay close to for a dozen years, from childhood to adolescence. _

"You're right, Ron." She admitted. "I don't just throw myself at you. At least not right away."

Monique _did_ catch Ron's eyes flashing wide for a moment. But he gamely continued, "that's my point. Her coming on to me just isn't normal. Hot girls don't just crush on me without an ulterior motive."

"Oh, and what kind of experience do _you_ have with these mysterious ulterior motives?" Monique was being just a little more sarcastic than she had intended.

Ron pulled his chair out from his desk, turned it to face her, and sat down. "There have been a couple of…incidents," he said, with his face down and his voice sorrowful.

Monique sat down on the bed. _Here comes the tidbit!_


	39. Ron's Experience

Chapter 38: Ron's Experience

Ron took a deep breath and began. "You know that Kim has a certain, international celebrity?" Monique nodded. "She isn't _huge_ because she doesn't really work at it. But if some paper-nazi…"

"Paparazzi," Monique corrected.

"Whatever. If some such manages to catch a picture of her it will probably show up in one of the 'look who showed up at the club tonight' kind of magazines. Since she isn't a party girl she hasn't had trouble with negative press."

Monique nodded, she knew all about this.

"Late last summer, just before the school year started, we took a mission in Samoa against Dementor. We did the usual thing; she completed the mission while his henchmen chased me all over a hillside. It was late by the time we finished and Wade was only able to get us in to LA before a storm came in from the Pacific and shut down all air travel."

Monique nodded again, Kim had told her about the mission when they had gotten back.

"Anyway, the manager of this really high-brow hotel was more than happy to put her up in a first-class room, free of charge, for the night. He was kind enough to also put me up for free in a more modest accommodation. Kim wanted to complain about it but I got her to calm down."

Monique sighed, Ron almost always seemed to be overlooked.

"It was no big," he continued. "I mean even their economy room totally rocked. Anyway we had a room service meal up in her room then I went back to mine so that we could get some sleep. Security in my wing was a little more lax than the security up in the celebrity section. Later that night a couple of her fans showed up at my room, eager to meet Kim Possible's sidekick."

"Hold up a minute, Ron." Monique interrupted. "I've got a hunch that I know where this story is heading. Are you sure you want a self-proclaimed 'mistress of gossip' to hear this?"

Ron smiled back. "Do you know why everyone is willing to confide in you?" Monique shook her head. "Because we all know that you'll only use the gossip you collect in the right way. You only cut down and embarrass the people that really need it." Monique smiled.

"Anyway, here I was, at midnight, with these two incredibly hot girls who were wearing clothes that I couldn't believe were street legal. They were acting like I was the greatest thing they had ever been near and man was I feeling good about myself." Ron shook his head in self-disgust. "They wanted autographs, of course, so I was more than happy to jot down something like 'you can do anything' in their books. Then they wanted pictures so I let them take turns taking pictures of each other draped over me."

Monique steeled herself. Did she really want to know what was coming?

Ron took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was obviously forcing himself to go on. "Then they suggested some…other…activities. There I was, a sixteen-year old male faced with the ultimate male fantasy, two absolutely gorgeous girls, ready and willing and no adult supervision. I accepted."

Monique's eyes were very wide.

"Before you jump to conclusions, I asked them just what we were going to do and we agreed to a make-out session, nothing more. So we head into my room and I'm thinking that this is great and that I hope that they know what they're doing since I sure don't. Then one of them reaches in her purse and pulls out a little bag of white powder saying that it would get us all in the mood. I called a halt right then and there. There was no way that I was going to snort coke and no way I was going to tolerate it in my room. I literally shoved the two out of the room, locked them out, and called the front desk. They called the police and sent a security guard to escort the two out of the building. I trailed the girls."

"They left the hotel and went strait to a Camero with some really weird looking guy at the wheel. I wrote down the license plate number just as the LAPD shows up. Turns out the guy had been caught sneaking into hotels, himself; to get the 'inside scoop' pictures before. He had made some sort of deal to avoid trespassing charges but he _was_ on probation. One of his terms allowed the police to search his vehicle, without a warrant, if they had probable cause. The hotel's call gave them probable cause. They all had priors so they were all arrested and in-processed."

Ron was looking as miserable as Monique had ever seen him but he pushed on. "Wade was able to hack into the details that came up during their in-processing. It turns out that it was real coke, one of the girls was very recently pregnant, and the other girl had Syphilis." Ron looked up and his voice trembled. "And the digital camera they had _just happened_ to have a very expensive, low-light adapter."

"Meaning," Monique prompted. Her blood felt like ice.

"Meaning that that guy nearly had Kim Possible's sidekick in one massive scandal. I have no doubt that if I hadn't been scared off by the drugs, someone would have called the police during the…activities. The police would have found me involved with two girls and in possession of cocaine. Of course the girls would have claimed that I had provided the drugs, that we had had intercourse and they would have had pictures of the 'foreplay' to prove it. The scandal rags would have had a field day and Kim would have been guilty by association. Not only that but the sleazebag could have stretched it out big time. First there would have been the initial feeding frenzy, then it would flare up again when the VD was revealed and then there would have been the paternity tests."

Ron leaned back in the chair, sweating, with his eyes closed. His voice was very weak as he continued; "The only thing that saved me was that the sleazebag had tried for the grand slam. If he hadn't involved the drugs, he could have nailed me with the rest. Kim would have probably been out of the 'helping people' business and she would have hated me for the rest of her life."

"So that's why you're suspicious now?" Asked Monique, "I mean, that was bad but it was just one incident-"

"That wasn't the last time," Ron interrupted her. "Scandal rag types have tried to catch me with the same type of scam three times since then. I guess the sleazebag had some sort of sleazefest with all of his sleazy friends. They didn't realize that almost getting burned taught me my lesson. I avoid photographers and fans whenever I can."

"Ron, why did you almost…in the first place?" Monique asked. "That's just not like you!"

"I know," he said. His head was back down in his hands and his voice was pure misery. "Anything I say will only be an excuse but I'll try to explain. The mission had gone well but I wasn't feeling very good about myself. I had spent about a half-hour running away from henchmen who were calling me a coward the entire time. When the authorities showed up and took all the bad guys away, they didn't even ask me for a witness statement. The ride that Wade scared up only had one seat, for Kim. I wound up sitting in a cargo hold. Then there was being overlooked by the hotel. I was feeling invisible and those two made me feel like the most important thing in the world."

"How many people know the story?"

"Aside from those actually present, Rabbi Katz, Wade, and you."

"Why the Rabbi? You didn't intend to have intercourse, did you?" Ron shook his head. "Just some tonsil-hockey?"

"If that much, I had forgotten my toothbrush."

"Then why the Rabbi?"

Ron looked up. "Rabbi Katz is a lot more than someone to discuss…transgressions with. He was also able to talk to me about how I felt, what I did, and why I did it. After talking to him I realized that what I had almost done wasn't exactly proper but wasn't the horrible thing that I thought it was. It was only the possible fallout that was terrible. He helped me come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to set hearts aflame with a wink, and to accept that. He also helped me to accept the fact that my association with Kim would leave me vulnerable to extortion attempts and that I should beware of them."

He looked at her closely. "That's where my suspicions about Dessie come in. I am suspicious that this mystery girl, interested in me, has something else planned. Now I have an option. I can ask Wade to hack into the school's system, pirate her information and do an exhaustive search. If she's just a normal girl, I will have initiated a major invasion of her privacy. If she's up to something and I don't take action; I will have enabled whatever she does. That's my dilemma."

Monique sat wide-eyed. She wouldn't have dreamed that Ron's motivations could be so serious. "I have an idea." She said. Ron tilted his head.

"Give me one more day with my bunch." She said. If we can't come up with any background, unleash Wade.

"That sounds reasonable, and I'll try to talk to her as well. But if by this time tomorrow we haven't come up with anything, I'm calling Wade."


	40. Discussions

**Chapter 39: Discussions**

Monique let loose with a frustrated sigh. Classes had just ended for the day and she had found out absolutely nothing about Dessie. Not only that, but she had decided to snoop into Eric as well and had found out absolutely zero. What kind of teenager was unwilling to talk about their last school, or their parents, or their last town? It was like the two new students had only appeared the previous week. She checked her watch, 4:00. Ron would be pumping iron with Oscar and a few other hardcore mat-rats. He would quit around 5:30 or so. She would catch him then.

As she made for the doors, she spotted her best friend heading her way, for once _without_ her new beau. Monique decided to make one last attempt at snooping.

"Hey Kim girl," she called. "WBUL."

Kim spun to face Monique, smiled, and asked, "WBUL?"

"What's been up lately? I haven't seen much of you for over a week."

"Oh, well I've been spending a lot of time with Eric, he's so great!"

"Yeah, " Monique was keeping her voice neutral. "What's the scoop on him, anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"The usual gossip, girl! Where did he come from, what's he into, what do his folks do, all that stuff."

"Oh," Kim thought for a moment and looked a little perplexed. "You know, he's never really come out and said much about that. He did say that his dad was a scientist and was just finishing off some big project, but that was about it."

Monique stopped dead, forcing Kim to do the same. "You mean that you don't know anything more about your new boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend, at least not yet. We haven't even really dated, just hung out together at lunch and before and after school. Our first date is going to be the Prom on Saturday."

"Even so, all you know is that his dad is some sort of scientist?"

"Well, yeah I guess so."

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Should it?"

Monique chose her words carefully. "Kim, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but you're spending a lot of time with this guy and you don't even know where he lives?"

"I just haven't worried about it, I have such a good time with him! In fact, I'm going to be meeting up with him in a few more minutes."

This time Monique didn't chose her words. "Okay, Kim, I think we're close enough friends that I can be straight with you, what about Ron?"

"What about him?"

Monique glared into Kim's eyes. "You know, your best friend forever, the guy you were flirting with up until last week? Do you even remember the guy that backs you up on your missions?"

Kim looked indignant. "Of course I remember him, he's still my best friend!"

"Is he? You don't walk to school with him anymore, you don't walk back from school with him anymore, and you don't even sit with us at lunch anymore. What has happened to you?"

"Happened to me?"

"Yes, as in you and Ron were really close to getting together and suddenly you don't have time to even say hello to him anymore! What happened?"

Kim's face dropped. "Monique, I never intended to hurt Ron. It's probably best that this all happened now, before it could have been worse. Yes, I was flirting with him and he was flirting back and I was so ready to start dating. But then I realized that it just wouldn't work for us."

Monique was stunned. "Why not?"

Kim took a deep breath. "Ron just isn't…extroverted enough. I mean, you've seen the public life I lead; head cheerleader, president of multiple committees, world saving heroine. Ron's a great guy, but he just doesn't fit in to that kind of life. Take the mountain rescue mission we were on. Those reporters couldn't say enough good things about me, but he just slunk off and vanished."

"You dropped him because he isn't some kind of lens-louse?"

"I didn't drop him, we were never an item. The fact is that Ron's a great friend, probably the best there is but he just isn't _boyfriend_ material for me. I need a guy that I can be proud of, a guy who'll stand up and look good next to me. Remember when we were clothes shopping for him? He wouldn't even wear that shirt that flattered his build. If I were to get together with him he would be uncomfortable with the fame and I would always be explaining why I was with him."

Monique's eyes were very wide. "You mean he's not good enough to date you?"

Kim was now angry herself. "What's wrong with me wanting to be with a guy I can show off?"

Monique gave up. "Kim, you're right. It's your life and if you want to ignore your friends to be with Eric, it's your choice. But I can remember a conversation we had a few months ago. You were feeling terrible because you had pushed the best friend anybody's ever had out of your life for the sake of a boyfriend. At that time you were really ashamed about doing it and you wanted him back in your life. I hope, for your sake, that you haven't hurt him so bad that _he_ turns his back on _you_."

With that Monique spun on her heel and marched off, leaving a stunned Kim standing in the hall.

Monique was off work that night. Truth be told, she had arranged to work extra hours the last several weeks so that she could take all of Prom week off. Rather than wait for Ron at his place, she wandered to the library and finished her homework, then headed to the Weight Room. Her timing was just about perfect. The half-dozen hard core wrestlers were just leaving as she arrived. While she wasn't much of a fan of the sweaty smell that accompanied the mat-rats, she had to admit that the damp, clingy shirts looked good on some of the guys. Ron and Oscar were talking. She was about to ask Ron for a private conversation when Cindy swept in and claimed her boyfriend, leaving Ron to Monique.

"Hey Monique, what brings Middleton's greatest fashion expert to sweat central?" Ron greeted Monique.

"I'm not here as the fashion expert, I'm here as the information broker."

"Oh?" Ron looked hopeful, "I hope you've had better luck than I have."

"You took the words out of my mouth, Blondie. Dessie has no past that she's admitted to."

Ron's face dropped. "Yeah, the only thing she told me was that her mother is a security consultant of some sort. I've got no choice, I'm going to unleash Wade."

Monique looked around to make sure that they were alone. "Ron, have you thought about doing the same to Eric? I mean, doesn't it seem strange that this happened with Kim as well?"

A sad look came over Ron's face but for a different reason than Monique had expected. "Kim taught me a hard lesson the last time I stood between her and a crush." He explained. "While I might be suspicious, I'll never, ever interfere with one of her relationships again."

"What did she do?"

"I haven't even been able to talk it over with her. Sorry Monique, but until I can bring that up with her, I'm not talking about it with anybody else around here."

Monique nodded; she could respect that. "That's really too bad, since it looked like the two of you were heading…"

"Yeah, I thought so to. But I guess it's better that she brushed me off before that happened. So, are you heading to work?"

"No, I've learned to take Prom Week off. Most of the girls wind up looking spankin' in their dresses but there's always a few that don't, and some of them like to take it out on the nearest salesperson."

"Ah," Ron nodded, "and does yours look spankin'?"

"You better believe it! Like you said, I'm Middleton's greatest fashion expert."

"And who's the lucky guy who'll be escorting you to the event?"

Monique's smile weakened just a bit. "Nobody, it looks like I'm showing up on my own. That means the entire Middleton High male population is at risk."

Ron nodded. "Apparently the entire Middleton High male population has doubts about meeting your standards." Monique giggled. "That being the case, would you care to show up on my arm?" Monique's eyes popped open. "I _am_ a bondiggity dancer!" Ron assured her, and did a graceful step to prove it.

"But…you and Dessie, I thought…" Monique stammered.

"Monique, I barely know her. I've always thought that you should attend formal dances with someone that you know."

Monique looked at him for a little bit. She'd never really thought of him _that_ way before their conversation last night. He'd always been a friend and a friend of a friend. Going on a date with him would be just plain awkward with Kim…Then she remembered what Kim had said about Ron.

"No Ron," she said, "A Prom is a date, and I don't do the 'friendship date' thing like you and Kim." Ron's expression dropped a little bit, but he handled the rejection with good grace. "Now, why don't you try asking me again, and this time like a boy asking a girl for a _date_?"


	41. Thursday Morning

Chapter 40: Thursday Morning

Ron's cell was ringing as he climbed into his window after his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises. He checked the ID, it was Wade.

"Hey Wade, what can I do for my favorite tech Guru?"

"Actually, I've got three pieces of information for you."

"I'm all ears."

"Okay, first item. Checking up on Dessie. I'm not having any luck."

"What?"

"Her information will pass a cursory check, but not the in-depth routines that I run. She has a valid Social Security Number, but it showed up in the database two months ago. She has school records, from a high school in Maryland, but no Elementary or Middle School records. It's like she suddenly popped into being in the last two months. Looks like you're weird-dar is in good working order."

"Not so much good weird-dar as a close call, what else can you tell me?"

"Well, I've started a facial construction similarity profile between her and all known criminals, just in case she's a crook in disguise. So far the closest match I've got is Shego."

Ron thought about that, give Dessie a pale green complexion and she _would_ look a little like Shego! "Could she be a cousin of Team Go's?" He asked.

"Still working on it, just thought I'd keep you up to date."

"Good work so far, what else have you got?"

"I've found out what Dr. Megahenry was working on in the Soviet Union."

"The guy Drakken was trying to locate at The Bermuda Triangle?"

"That's him, it turns out he was working on some sort of electromagnetic spectrum energy transmission system."

"Okay Wade, lets pretend I didn't understand a lick of that."

"Right, you understand how power lines work, don't you?"

"Yeah, the utility company puts them up so birds have a place to sit."

"Ron…"

"No, really, they take electrical power from the generating point to the consumption point. I may not know science but I do understand business."

"Right, well Dr. Megahenry was working on a method of transmitting power without using a solid channel. I don't know how successful he was, but he may have continued his work after the wall came down."

"Wouldn't that transmission fry anything that got in the way, like lightning?"

"Probably not. According to his research, his transmission channel needed a very special transmitter and a very special receiver. The specific form of energy he had discovered wouldn't react with anything other and the proper receiver. Meaning that the transmission would pass right through you without causing you any harm. In fact, he used two forms of energy, one form for long distance transmission and another form for local consumption. He needed repeaters to switch the energy between the forms."

"Interesting. What else do you have?"

"Third item. The new Bueno Nacho parent company has been making some strange orders through front-companies for the last several months. Not only have they done some major excavation work, it looks like they've had everything they need to construct a fusion reactor delivered to their corporate headquarters."

"They must be trying to make some _really_ hot sauce."

Wade chuckled. "I agree that this is unusual behavior, but if we assume that Drakken is in some way behind the takeover at BN and he's contracted the services of Dr. Megahenry…"

"Added to those funky antennas at all of the BN branches…" Ron chimed in.

"He might have a way of generating and distributing massive amounts of power." Wade concluded.

"But why?" Ron mused. "Maybe he's thinking of destroying the worlds electrical grid then charging everyone through the nose to provide energy."

"That's one possibility. Another one is that he may want to be able to set up one of his doomsday devices anywhere in the world without arranging for a power feed."

"That would make him a lot more mobile," Ron agreed. "Anything else?"

"No, but I'm getting access to more and more of the doctor's research. I should have more in a few days."

"Thanks Wade, you rock!"

"Kim said the same thing, by the way, she wants you to come over and walk her to school today."

Ron was surprised by this, but did as he was told. Kim was waiting for him at her house and the teens met up and headed for school without a word. Kim seemed ready to speak several times, but just didn't. Finally, Ron broke the silence.

"So, what did you think of what Wade found out?"

That was the nudge Kim needed. "It's troubling but Ron," and here she stopped and turned to face him. "That's not why I wanted to talk to you." She took a deep breath. "I've been treating you terribly again. I quit walking to school with you, quit sparring with you, without even letting you know."

"You've had other things on your mind." Ron's voice had a decided edge to it.

"That's no excuse, not anymore. I'd really appreciate it if you would start walking to school with me and start sparring with me, again."

Ron bit back his first response and thought for a minute. She hadn't really dumped him, since they hadn't actually dated, but it still hurt. If he said the wrong thing, he could destroy a decade plus friendship in a moment. He calmed himself and swallowed his pride and pain. "That's fine by me."

"Thanks Ron." She paused a little. "What's next is going to be hard for me to say and it might come out wrong, but here goes. Yesterday, after school, I spoke with Monique. She's the one that pointed out how badly I've treated you. I thought long and hard about some other remarks she made and she was right. I remember when you had just broken up with Sue; you told me that you didn't think that any girlfriend was worth loosing our friendship. I finally realized that it goes both ways. No boyfriend, no crush, is worth loosing Ron Stoppable."

Ron felt moisture creep into his eyes. "Thanks, Kim," was all he could say.

"No Ron, thank you. Thank you for forgiving me when I've ignored you. Thank you for always looking out for me. Thank you for being willing to be friends, again, after I've treated you like you weren't worth my time."

"I'm not willing to be friends _again_, we've never stopped."

With that, Kim simply grabbed him in a tight hug. "Ron Stoppable, let me say this again. You are the absolute best friend I've ever had. Never, never forget that."

There was some suspicious moisture in Kim's' eyes.

"So," she continued, "are you going to make the dance on Saturday?"

"Yes," he replied, "since I've quit being the Mad Dog I've been bottling up all of these bondiggity moves and I've just gotta let 'em out somewhere." He made a few moves to demonstrate.

"I…hear that you've been seeing that new girl, Dessie."

"Yeah, but she kind of creeps me out. I'm going to the dance with Monique."

Kim looked surprised for a few moments, then smiled very warmly. "That's great," she said, "Do me a favor, save a dance for me?"

"Anytime, KP."


	42. Prom Night, Part 1

**Chapter 41: Prom Night, Part 1**

Ron checked his watch as Rufus straightened his tie for him. It was 7:45, time to walk to the Gym and meet Monique. He had to snort out a laugh at his situation. His parent's were out of town again; his dad had a factory to survey and his mother had accompanied him. As a result, Monique wasn't allowed to come to his home and since he didn't have a driver's license he couldn't borrow his mom's car and drive to hers. He didn't even dare suggest that they ride on his scooter. Instead they would meet just before eight, in the Gym Lobby. He chuckled; a normal date just wasn't in the cards for the Ronster.

He was in a surprisingly good mood. Kim and he were getting along better again. They had walked to and from school both Thursday and Friday and had put in sparring sessions both of those days. She still hung with Eric at lunchtime and probably after their training, but Kim was back to being his friend again, something Ron could accept. Wade hadn't been able to uncover anything else on what Drakken might be up to but Ron decided that he should just be a teenager tonight, enjoy the dance, and worry about saving the world on Monday.

The doorbell interrupted his thoughts. He set Rufus down on his dresser and ambled downstairs to answer the door. He opened the door to see a fuming Dessie, wearing a formal, green dress with a matching handbag. She barged straight past him without giving him a chance to speak. Ron was shocked. She had seemed a little mad at him on Thursday, when he told her he was going to the Prom with Monique, but she had simply told him that she would see him there. Ron had deliberately avoided her on Friday, waiting for Wade to dig up more information.

"Ron Stoppable!" She declared, "you have some explaining to do!"

"Dessie, I'm not allowed to have girls over when my folk's aren't here and I'm just getting ready to le-"

"I DON'T CARE! Why aren't you going to the Prom with me? I thought we were putting something together!"

"We might be, but I've only known you for a few days and I don't know anything about you and I-"

"I thought you said I was pretty!"

"You are."

"Prettier than Monique?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so, its just-"

Her mouth pressing against his interrupted his words. Her hands were behind his neck, not letting him go. He closed his eyes. Almost against his will, his arms wrapped around her. Her tongue…

Ron pushed away from her. "Dessie, what are you doing? I'm about to go to the Prom with Monique and you're-. What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with _you_? Why don't we both just skip the Prom? We could stay here, Ron, together! It will be wonderful! Can't you see that I love you? "

"_Love_ me? Dessie, we don't even know each other! I don't know anything about you! When I had a friend try to track your background he couldn't find any-." _Oh, snap! What did I just let out?_

"Ron, you didn't." Dessie seemed on the verge of tears. When Ron didn't deny his actions she pulled a small device out of her bag, touched a button and spoke into it. "Subject two has initiated a background check."

Ron was really confused now. "Dessie, what are y-"

"SHUT UP, RON!" She held the device to her ear, a look of concentration on her face. After a moment, she spoke into it again. "Confirmed, will comply." She turned back to him. "Why Ron? Why couldn't you have just been normal? "

"Dessie, I'm sorry but what-"

"SHUT UP RON! Do you know how we gain our personalities? We're imprinted from real people, then altered slightly. Do you know why I fell for you? BECAUSE I WAS SUPPOSED TO! I WAS MADE TO! Why couldn't you have fallen for me right back?"

She looked around and stared at the open picture window for a second. Then she reached out, grabbed a thoroughly confused Ron Stoppable by the collar and dragged him into the kitchen with surprising strength.

"Dessie, what's happen-"

"I SAID SHUT UP RON! Do you know how long I have to live? The longest any of us have ever lived is eight weeks! Eight weeks and I've already used up three! Why couldn't you have just gone along with it? You would have enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed it. All of the unpleasantness would have been over in another week. The time I had left would have been happy, with you. Father isn't unreasonable! He doesn't want to hurt you if he doesn't need to! But because of you, we have to move up the schedule and do this tonight."

"Do what? Dessie I don't under-"

"CAN'T YOU JUST BE QUIET?" She pinned him up against the wall. "Now, here's what we're going to do. We are going to Bueno Nacho. We're going to go to the service entrance and then straight to the storeroom. We will stay there for the next four hours. The dangerous part will be over by then. We can be together for those four hours, father has told me that I have to watch you but it doesn't have to be unpleasant. After it's all over, who knows? I'm still a real girl in almost every respect and I love you. Maybe we can be together for as long as I have left."

Ron's brain was running about a half-minute behind current events. "Dessie, no! I'm going to the Prom with Mon-"

She nailed him with a right cross that bounced his head off of the wall and set lights flashing in his eyes. He slid down the wall, dazed, until she caught him and pinned him up against the wall again.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, RON! IF YOU HAD JUST FALLEN IN LOVE WITH ME LIKE A NORMAL BOY, THIS WOULDN'T BE HAPPENING! Because of you, the only choice you have is to either come with me, quietly, or have me carry your unconscious body there. It's up to you, Ron."

"NO!" Ron couldn't bring himself to hit her, but he wasn't going to be kidnapped. He clamped a thumblock on her left hand and twisted. This broke him free but the move didn't force her down like it should have. Her whole arm just rotated as if she had no bones.

"So this is the way it's going to be?" She lashed out with her right hand again and Ron barely managed to dodge. Her fist broke into the kitchen wall. Her left hand snapped up around Ron's throat and clamped down. He couldn't pry her fingers off.

"I'm not going to kill you Ron. Please don't fight me. Once you're out, I'll take you to Bueno Nacho. It won't be unpleasant there if you don't fight me." Ron answered by curling himself up and ramming both feet, hard, into her face.

She released him and flew back against the counter. "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS SO HARD? I only wa…AAAAAHHHHH!" She looked down, drawing Ron's eyes with hers to where Rufus had just bitten her foot. A strange, yellowish-green fluid spurted out of the wound.

"YOU MISERALBE RAT, I'LL…" She raised her foot, preparing to stomp on Ron's friend.

"NOOOOO!" Ron came up off of the floor, threw himself forward and tackled her. They fell to the ground in a wild jumble of limbs, a grotesque mockery of making out. One of her flailing hands caught him straight on the mouth, although she didn't have much behind the blow. As his weight came down on her, the fluid _gushed_ from her foot. Ron flinched back as she seemed to flatten beneath him. Her beautiful face became hollow as her entire body sagged towards the floor. Her voice weakened even as she struggled to say…

"Ron…why…couldn't…you…have…been…norm…"

Ron could only sit there, staring in horrified awe at what looked like a deflated balloon. Even as he watched, the empty skin of what had, moments before, been a lovely young woman began to dissolve. A few minutes later nothing was left but a puddle of fluid and the device she had spoken into earlier. Not even her clothing and accessories remained. Ron's brain was functioning enough to recognize that the device must be some form of communication equipment, and that it might be transmitting even now. He crushed the device and lurched to his feet.

Dessie was a synthodrone? How would he explain the mess to his mother? How could he explain her being here to Monique and his folks? He was soaked with the fluid; he was never getting the deposit back on the tux.

Wait a minute, a SYNTHODRONE! If someone was planning on neutralizing him that must mean…

KIM!

He grabbed the kitchen phone, called Wade, and made the most coherent report that he could manage. Wade was stunned.

"Ron, are you sure?" Wade flinched at his own question.

"You can come see the mess if you don't believe me."

"Sorry, Ron. I didn't mean to sound like I didn't believe you but this really caught me off guard! What's your call?"

"Get in touch with Kim. If someone tried to eliminate me, then they have to have a plan for her as well."

"You don't suppose Eric…"

"I don't know Wade, but I've learned to never get between her and her boyfriend. Go ahead and run a background check on him, I'll take the heat for it. But first, contact Kim, tell her what happened here and tell her to be on guard. Oh, and ask her to apologize to Monique, for me, for standing her up."

"Ron, where are you going?"

"Des…the synthodrone was going to take me to Bueno Nacho. I'm heading there to see if I can scare something up. I don't have time to wait for Kim; the drone contacted someone and agreed to take me there. I've got to get there before they realize something's wrong." Ron heard some furious keyboard tapping.

"Okay Ron, I'm getting some broad-spectrum satellite surveillance on Bueno Nacho and I'm hacking into monitoring systems for all of its utilities. I'll be able to monitor any reactions to your arrival. But Ron, you can't just barge in there! They're expecting you to show up as a prisoner of…that thing!"

"I've got a plan Wade, trust me and good luck." Ron hung up the phone and ran up the stairs, pulling off his tux as he went_. I hope the neighbors don't see me carrying that thing, I hope the guys never hear about this and I hope mom doesn't kill me for what I'm about to do._


	43. Prom Night, Part 2

**Chapter 42: Prom Night, Part 2**

Monique stood to the side as the couples were forming a line for their big entrance. Ron was running late but she wasn't worried, yet. She saw Kim and Eric and she actually managed to smile. Kim had made peace, sort of, with her friends earlier in the week. Monique still didn't think that things were right with her best friend but at least it was a start. Kim and Eric did make a fine-looking couple, sure to set Rockwaller to stewing for weeks to come. Too bad her and Ron were going to blow _everyone_ away. If only he would get here.

A familiar four-chirp tone sounded from inside Kim's purse. She automatically reached to grab it, only to find her wrist caught gently in Eric's hand.

"Kim," he said. "You're always there for everyone else. This is your night, your moment. Don't you think you've earned your time? Let someone else save the world tonight."

Kim thought about it, nodded, and turned off her Kimmunicator.

* * *

The Bueno Nacho manager was getting nervous. Where was that synthodrone? It should have been here, with Stoppable by now! He was preparing to call his employer when a single, loud knock sounded on the back door. He quickly looked up towards the front of the restaurant, where Ned and another employee were hard at work. He closed the inner door, opened the back door and felt his jaw drop in astonishment. 

He saw a roughly five and a half foot figure, swathed in a shapeless green dress with a ragged mass of dark hair over its face. The figure held another, blanket draped figure over its shoulders. The manager stood there, stunned, for several moments. The figure spoke in a rasping whisper.

"Subject…two…resisted. Unit…unable…to…transmit."

The manager came to his senses. "This way, quickly!" He ordered and led the gracelessly shuffling figure to an unused storeroom. He unlocked and opened the door, revealing a cot and shelves full of Lil' Diablo toys. He ushered the figure inside with him, then closed the door behind them.

"Put him on the bed." He ordered, then pulled out a cell phone. "It's me. Yeah, she's here and she brought him in. She's been damaged and says that she can't transmit. Okay, I'll keep them both here."

He tucked his phone back in his pocket and approached the figure on the cot. Pulling a set of handcuffs from a shelf, he unwrapped the prone figure only to stop cold when he found himself staring at a martial arts target dummy. He spun around and his eyes flew wide when he saw Ron Stoppable, in full mission gear, dropping a green dress and a dark wig.

"Who were you talking to?" Ron demanded as he advanced on the considerably larger man. The manager sneered at Ron and swung his ham-like fist, only to see Ron nimbly deflect the fist over his shoulder, catch the arm, and flip him head over heels across the room.

"Who were you talking to?" Ron demanded again, advancing on the now prostrate manager.

The manager pulled out his cell phone but Ron kicked it out of his hand before he could push a single button. The phone arced up into the air where Ron caught it and stuffed it into one of the pockets on his cargo pants. "Answer me!" He demanded.

The manager backed away from Ron as quickly as he could. He clutched at his shirt, activating the emergency pendant he wore around his neck, under his shirt. A rustling sounded through the storeroom as the covers popped off of the Lil' Diablo containers and the toys stood up. Ron could hear shrieks from the front of the restaurant. The manager smiled, pulled his pendant out of his shirt and up to his mouth.

"Attack subject two!" He said into the pendant. All of the toys advanced on Ron, the ones on the upper shelves hopping down to the floor. The shrieks from the front of the restaurant became more intense. Ron didn't understand the sitch. These were just toys, after all. After a moments hesitation he closed in on the manager yet again.

Again, the manager swung a fist at Ron but this time Ron sidestepped the blow, stepped forward and delivered an open-palm strike up under the man's sternum. All of the air _whooshed_ out of the manager's lungs. He stumbled back to the wall, then slumped down, only to be caught by a furious Ron Stoppable. Ron grabbed the collar of the man's shirt and pinned him against the wall, reversing the roles he and the synthodrone had assumed a short time ago.

"You, mister, are in big trouble." He informed his opponent. "Whatever your employer is working on is going to fall apart once I get this phone to my technical guru and he finds out who you were talking to. Now, you can come clean and make it a lot easier on yourself or you can EYAAAA!"

Looking down, Ron realized that shouldn't have discounted the toys. Several of them had formed a chain by locking their hands together. They had wrapped one end of this mobile chain around one of the shelving units, and the other end was now wrapped around Ron's ankle. He kicked, hard but only managed to gouge his ankle on the toys' hard bodies. The toys had anchored three more chains at other points in the room and the free ends were creeping towards him as additional toys linked into the chain. More of the toys were climbing up his feet and legs, scratching and gouging his skin and linking together to form a net around him.

The manager laughed at Ron. "You're never going to get that phone to anyone. You're going to be all tied up in just a minute. This is all going to be over in a few hours and then I'll be getting you back for this." To the big man's shock, Ron smiled back.

"Okay Rufus, I'm going to need that thing."

The manager looked in shock at a small, hairless rodent scampering away from him carrying his emergency pendant. He had been too occupied with Ron to notice Rufus climbing up his shirt and biting through the cord that held the pendant. Rufus tossed the pendant to Ron, who one-handed it while keeping a grip on the manager. Fortunately for Ron, he had seen the manager issue the earlier command.

"Stop," he said into the pendant. All of the diablos stopped. Ron shook off the ones that had been climbing up his body but his foot was still chained. "Return to your containers." The diablos all started to head back to the shelves, releasing Ron. The manager let out a roar of rage as he lunged at Ron. Ron dodged the attack, tripped the man, then pounced on him and applied a sleeper hold. He was out in less than a minute.

Ron tucked the pendant into a pocket and ran to the front of the restaurant. He nearly collided with Ned, who was hurrying back to the storeroom.

"Ron," he gasped. "What's going on? First all of the toys jumped up and started heading to the back, then they all turn around and head to where they had been, then I hear the manager yelling!"

"I don't know what all is happening." Ron replied, "but if I were you, I'd get everyone out of here. I think that something really bad is about to happen and I think that BN is going to be in the middle of it."

"No need to make people leave," Ned answered. "When those toys started jumping off of the tables, everyone just up and left on their own."

"Ned, please close the place down and leave. This is going to be really bad." Ron pleaded with his friend.

"Okay." Ned and the other employee started shutting down the facility.

Ron returned to the storeroom. The manager was just beginning to stir. Since the man had been kind enough to provide a set of handcuffs, Ron used them to cuff one of the man's hands to one of the shelving units. After a moment's thought, Ron emptied the man's pockets, as well. Then it was back out front to see that Ned and his assistant had just powered down all of the cooking appliances. Ron asked Ned to remove all of the telephones. With that the three boys left the building and Ned locked it. Ron stepped away and grabbed his phone again.

"Ron, what happened?" Wade wanted to know. "I had a strange signal transmitted from the Bueno Nacho sign and a spike in their electricity consumption." Ron explained what had happened. "Do you still have that pendant thing?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'm going to contact Mr. Dr. P and let him know what's going on and what we've found out. That might be enough to loosen his jaw up, if you know what I mean. Take the pendant to his place, I'll send one of my carrier flyers to pick it up."

"What did Kim say about all of this?" Ron asked.

"She's not answering her Kimmunicator."

"Do you think she's okay?"

"There haven't been any police or news transmissions that suggest anything has happened to her."

"Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll swing by the gym and pick her up. If I survive Monique, I'll take her home and we can discuss this at that time." Ron shook his head; Monique was going to be mad at him for standing her up, his mom as going to be mad at him for borrowing one of her dresses and Kim was going to be mad at him for ruining her date. Three ladies mad at him in a single night. Proms really _were_ stressful.

* * *

Monique was officially stewing. Ron still hadn't shown up and she didn't know if she should be mad or worried. _If he's in trouble, fine but if he's fine, he's in trouble_. She chilled with Kim and/or Cindy whenever they weren't dancing and she had danced with both Oscar and Felix. So far, Bonnie's posse hadn't really unleashed on her but it was only a matter of time. She could see the girls whispering to each other while they stole glances her way. She looked away from them, towards the lobby and spotted…"RON!" 

He wasn't wearing his tux; he was in mission gear. He had swelling around his left eye and his upper lip had been split. It wasn't his attire or his injuries that made Monique catch her breath, it was his demeanor. She had heard Kim talk about 'Ron in the clutch' but she had never seen it before. His usual goofy grin was replaced with a determined scowl and his stride was crisp and deliberate.

She ran up to him, several other students right behind her. "Ron, what happened," she had just stammered before Kim showed up.

"Ron, who did this to you?" Kim wanted to know.

Ron chose his words very carefully. _If Eric's a synthodrone I don't want to reveal him and have him attack a gym full of students._ "Kim, we really need to go to your parents' house. Wade uncovered some vital information and your father is key."

"Kim, why don't you just let Ron take care of this? " Eric asked. "If he's managed this far on his own, he should be able to handle the rest."

Ron didn't even look at Eric. "Something big is coming down, Kim. I think it's Drakken but I don't know for sure."

"What happened to you?" Kim demanded.

"I was investigating a lead that Wade and I had tracked down. I was attacked and this attack confirmed our suspicions. Kim, I really think that we'll be in action against Drakken within the hour."

"Kim, I don't understand why Ron came here. This is our night." Eric was glaring at Ron.

"All you have to do is call Wade." Ron replied.

"Ron, lets go." Kim grabbed Ron's arm and started for the door.

"Monique, I'm sorry about this. I owe you big time." Ron told Monique as he turned for the door.

"You bet you do," she replied. "You just get back here in one piece and we'll work out how you're paying me back."

Eric stood in stunned shock. She wasn't supposed to choose the weirdo over him. Finally he started to follow Kim and Ron. "Kim, really, why are you leav…ERP!" He suddenly found himself standing nose to nose with Oscar.

"Pal," the wrestler told him. "This is a dance, a school function. We're all here to enjoy ourselves. But if you leave this building, I'll be more than happy to let you know what I think about someone coming between my friends."

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A/N: I use the term 'target dummy' to refer to a life-sized, padded mannequin used to practice martial arts strikes and throws. Back when I practiced marital arts, the school I attended had such an item and we referred to it as a target dummy. I understand that other terms may apply for other schools and other regions of the country. If you have another term for such a mannequin, please let me know and I will alter the terminology in this chapter.

Till then, hope you're enjoying the story.

daccu65


	44. Prom Night, Part 3

**Chapter 43: Prom Night, Part 3**

"Dessie was a synthodrone?" Kim was flabbergasted. "Ron, are you sure?" Kim had just received a quick rundown on Ron's Prom Night adventures.

Ron turned his head as much as he could to look at the young woman on the scooter behind him. "Wade asked the same thing. Don't believe me? You can come over to my house, the kitchen looks like the Jolly Green Giant sneezed in there."

Kim flinched at the image. "But why would Drakken, and I'm assuming that it's Drakken, place a synthodrone in the school?"

"All I can tell you is what it told me, that I was supposed to fall in love with it and _it_ would all be over in another week."

"And when it found out that you were suspicious, it called someone and received orders to take you to Bueno Nacho?"

"I guess so, it also said we were going to stay there for four hours. That was about forty-five minutes ago, so I think that whatever he's got planned is going to happen very soon. Here we are."

* * *

At the Middleton Bueno Nacho, the disgruntled manager was stalking through the building, dragging a shelving unit behind him. He had checked behind the counter and in his office and hadn't found a telephone. He looked around, muttering some imaginative alterations he intended to perform upon a blond-headed teenager's body, when his eyes fell on the pay phone in the parking lot.

* * *

At the Middleton High School Gymnasium, Eric had just finished dancing with another of Bonnie's posse. These girls were planning on telling Miss Kimmie how great a dancer her date was, come Monday. He made another attempt to find an exit, only to find Felix, Cindy, and Oscar heading him off. Every time he so much as looked at an exit, there they were. With a sigh, he accepted another girl's invitation to dance a tango.

* * *

Kim's father was waiting at his front door with his sons. "Boys, take Ron's scooter into the garage and perform the modifications we spoke about."

"What's that?" Ron knew that his scooter wasn't much, but it _was_ his.

"I'm having the boys soup up your ride, Ronald. I think that you and Kim are going to need some fast transportation, from what Wade tells me. Come inside, both of you." The two teens followed the male Dr. Possible inside. Kim looked somewhat distracted. Once inside, James ushered them to the den. Wade's face was on the television screen and a Diablo toy was lying on some form of workbench. Mrs. Dr. P was also there.

"Ronald, could you give me the pendant that Wade told me about?" Ron dropped it in his waiting hand. "Kids, what I'm about to say is classified, but I think that it could be vital. The Hephaestus Project deals with reactive metal. Think of it as metallic muscle tissue. If your muscles receive a command, sent by your brain, and a power source, provided by your blood, they can move. If these toys are made out of Hephaestus metal, they will be able to respond to certain commands. Wade has sent me a spectrum analysis of the signal the Bueno Nacho sign emitted. This table will provide that same signal at a low level."

With that, Mr. Dr. P activated a switch on the side of the table. He studied the pendant for a moment then pressed its only button. Kim, Wade and both of the Dr.'s P shrieked when the toy climbed to its feet.

* * *

Fitting the shelving unit through the door had been a feat, but he had managed it. He had finally reached the pay phone in the parking lot. He reached into his pocket and grabbed…nothing. He checked all of his pockets, nothing. With a last desperate hope he checked the phone's coin return, nothing. Heaving a deep sigh, he dragged the shelving unit back to the restaurant, only to find that the door had locked behind him.

* * *

The Diablo toy just stood on the workbench. Ron took the pendant back from Mr. Dr. P and spoke into it. "Attack subject two." The toy's head spun around until it faced Ron. Then the toy turned its body towards the boy and advanced. Ron played a hunch and raised the pendant to his mouth again. "Attack subject one." The toy stopped, spun its head again and then advanced towards Kim.

* * *

The shelf had been of some use; the manager had used it as a battering ram to break through the door's glass pane. Once inside the building, he made his way to the cash register, only to find that Ned had locked it before leaving.

* * *

"Stop." The toy halted when Ron spoke his latest command into the pendant. He returned the pendant to MR. Dr. P, who dropped it into a strange contraption. The contraption, which looked like a metal shoebox with tiny engines, lifted off the ground and flew through an open window. _Wade's carrier flyer_, Ron realized. "Mr. Dr. P, I don't see the issue here. I mean, even if every one of the millions of those things that BN has given away can move like this one, they aren't all that bad. They had me on the run but if I had just had a sledge hammer, I could have dealt with them."

"That's true, Ronald," Mr. Dr. P answered. "But the Hephaestus metal has another property. If you provide it with massive amounts of energy the metal can expand by several times. We haven't been able to come up with a method of distributing the necessary energy at the Space Center, but if Drew has…"

* * *

He didn't know why the kitchen had a meat mallet. After all, they only prepared prepackaged ground beef but right now he wasn't complaining. The mallet made short work of the cash register and now he was dragging the shelf back out to the pay phone with a pocket full of quarters.

* * *

"Okay, I can understand most of it," Kim declared. "Drakken grabbed your research records so that he could create the metal. He strong-armed the Japanese Toy Company to build the Diablos. He tracked down Dr. Megahenry to send power to the Diablos. He took over Bueno Nacho to distribute the toys and to give him a repeater network. He also appears to have built a fusion reactor to provide a power source. But why the synthodrone?"

* * *

The manager had finally made the call. "Subject two overpowered me and has left the area. He knows about the mobile toys."

* * *

At Bueno Nacho Corporate Headquarters, Dr. Drakken stood in his new Control Room. He had just received the report from the Middleton Bueno Nacho manager. "What is the reactor capacity at this time?"

"Sixty-two percent," replied one of the technicians.

"Very well, bring the Middleton area on line immediately. Activate the Team Possible Contingency."

* * *

Ron took a deep breath. "Kim, Dessie the synthodrone was supposed to keep me distracted for another week, probably so that Drakken could complete his plans without being disturbed. If he created a drone to keep _me_ occupied-"

"Whoa guys," Wade interrupted. "I've got a massive combined power and signal output from the BN Headquarters and the Middleton BN is repeating it. It—Yeoooow!"

Ron could agree with that attitude, because the Diablo toy in front of him had just grown to an eight-foot monster. The thing stood there for a long moment, then the pincer on one of its 'hands' unfolded and started to rotate, creating a cutting weapon. It lurched towards Mrs. Dr. P, who had the misfortune to be in front of it. Kim, her reflexes honed by years of freak fighting, tackled her mother out of its path. Ron hustled the male Dr. P out of the room, as well.

"Get the thing outside!" Kim shrieked, as she kicked off her heels and did some impressive tumbling around the robot, capturing its attention. A second robot, stumping down the stairs, nearly caught her. Apparently both of the tweebs had one of the toys. Kim caught Ron's eye and pointed at one of the robot's weapon and then at the other robot. Ron understood.

Kim tumbled between the two robots, keeping closer to one of them. The other robot swiped at her with its weapon. Ron had a good running start and slammed himself into the second robot's upper back. It lurched forward, impaling itself on the first robot's weapon. The impaled robot returned to normal size and was shredded by the other one's weapon. The two teens tumbled in crisscrossing patterns around the surviving robot, keeping it confused while Kim yelled for her family to stay hidden. On a signal from Kim, both teens broke for the front door. The robot spun around a couple more times, then followed them. Once outside, it expanded further to fifteen feet high.

"Maybe getting it outside wasn't such a great idea." Ron observed. Kim could only nod in agreement.

* * *

All over Middleton, cute Diablo toys suddenly turned into large, menacing robots. With very few exceptions, these robots did not harm anyone who did not hinder them but simply moved outside. Most converged on a handful of sites and facilities: Electrical substations, City Hall, Police Headquarters, TV and Radio stations and telephone switching stations. Several more patrolled the streets, broadcasting the same message over and over. "Stay inside. Do not resist. You will not be harmed if you obey."

* * *

At the Middleton High School Gymnasium, a custodian barged onto the stage causing the band to stop playing. He looked out at a sea of wide eyes and held up a portable TV. "The whole city is under some kind of attack!" He declared. There was silence for several long moments, then screams as all the lights went out. A few moments later, emergency lighting kicked on, providing dim illumination.

"ALLRIGHT PEOPLE, SETTLE DOWN!" Barkin's voice overrode the panic. "Everybody just find a seat and relax while I find out what's happening." Oscar offered Cindy his arm and escorted her to a chair. Once he had his date seated he looked around and couldn't see Eric. With a quick, whispered explanation to his girlfriend, he started searching.

* * *

Wade hid between his bed and the wall while the eight-foot robot demolished his room. No, it wasn't actually destroying things on purpose; it was throwing things around like it was searching for something. _Me_, he thought. _It must be looking for me._ The young genius looked down and spotted his carrier flyer. He pocketed the pendant then gave the flyer some quick instructions. The flyer flew out the window and the robot, sensing movement, followed it outside. The young genius didn't waste any time. Once the robot was gone he was running for his basement, where he maintained a crude, secondary station. He had to get back on line!

* * *

Kim and Ron continued to run and tumble in crisscrossing patterns, keeping the Diablo from focusing on either one of them. The tactic had kept them alive so far, but they were starting to tire. Kim was about to suggest a combined high/low attack, in an effort to tip the thing over, when the garage door opened. "Kids," Kim's father's voice sounded from inside. "The boys are done upgrading the scooter. It's much faster now." Kim and Ron shared a few quick gestures then acted. Kim took the things attention while Ron broke for the garage. There, he took in some hurried explanations from the three Possible men before pulling outside. Kim spotted him and forced herself to circle the robot several more times, quickly. Then she linked up with Ron while it was still spinning. "Hang on!" He instructed, then pressed a new, red button.

The acceleration nearly tore her off the back of the scooter as flames plumed from the back. _The tweebs must have been planning this upgrade for some time!_ The attacking robot was left far behind but she could see others in the streets around them. They must have had some form of communication, since they tried to close in on the scooter as the teens drew near. Luckily, they didn't seem to appreciate the speed and maneuverability that the scooter had.

"Where are we going?" Kim yelled directly into Ron's ear.

"Bueno Nacho, we've got to take down the antenna!" Ron yelled back.

"How do we do that?"

"No idea yet, but I don't know how to fight the robots, either. At least the antenna won't try to kill us!"

"Good point!"

Conversation broke off at that point as a much faster Diablo closed in. It apparently had wheels of some kind under its feet since it was moving, fast, without walking. The teens didn't know if all of the Diablos were equipped with wheels or not, only that this one was as fast as the scooter and its cutting weapon was swinging uncomfortably close.

* * *

Oscar continued to search for Eric, looking around all of the exits. Finally, he looked out of one and spotted his quarry, talking on something that looked like a handheld radio. Since the other boy wasn't going anywhere at the moment, Oscar remained hidden and observed. What he saw made his eyes bug out.

* * *

Bueno Nacho was just ahead. The teens could see diablos filing out of the door, growing, then marching off to who knows where. The rolling Diablo was only a few yards behind them. Ron had been swerving an evasive course, causing the robot to crush a number of cars and trees on the way. _It's just as fast as we are but not as maneuverable_, Kim mused. Then she looked forward at the Bueno Nacho sign. She thumped Ron's shoulder. When he glanced back she pointed first at the robot then the sign. He nodded.

Ron cut a few more evasive curves then beelined for the sign. He arced around the sign, putting it between the scooter and the robot even as the robots emerging from Bueno Nacho turned towards the teens. Ron turned hard again to escape this threat when the pursuing robot collided with the sign in a massive shower of sparks. Instantly, the Diablos shrunk to small, inert toys. Ron felt a moment of elation then…

"Nooooo, " he screamed. The sign tilted slightly, then farther and farther. Finally it crashed with a thunderous noise directly on top of Bueno Nacho. Ron buried his face in his hands.

Kim's hand was quickly on his shoulder. "Ron, we did it! We won!"

"Yes, Kim. But the cost! Oh Lord, the cost! Bueno Naco is gone and I left my mom's dress in there; I'm now an official dead man."

The Kimmunicator went off, sparing Kim the necessity of making a comment. "What's the sitch?"

"Good job guys," Wade congratulated them. "I've taken some damage here, but I'm getting back on line. All I can tell you is that most of the city is without power and most communications have been cut off." He paused. "Whoa, I'm getting an incoming from Drakken!"

"Patch it through!"

"You might have won this round Kim Possible." The villain sneered had her from the screen. "But I've got someone very special to you!" The view panned to show Eric, tied to a chair with Shego hovering behind him. "Kim, what's happening?" Eric blurted out in a panicked voice. The feed cut off.

Kim looked up at Ron. "It's Eric," she gasped. "They've got him. We've got to rescue him! He's…" Her eyes grew wider, her jaw went slack, and her shoulders slumped. "He's a synthodrone, isn't he?"


	45. Plans

**Chapter 44: Plans**

"It's the only thing that makes sense, isn't it?" Kim asked, rhetorically. "Drakken comes up with some scheme and diverts both of us! But you became suspicious of your perfect girl. Why didn't you get suspicious of Eric?" The last question wasn't rhetorical; it was aimed right at Ron.

"I did, but not until after Dessie showed up." Ron replied.

"Did you have Wade perform a check on Eric?"

"Yeah, but not until tonight."

"Why not Ron? It was important."

"KP, I will never, ever get between you and a crush. You taught me that already."

"What? When?" Kim was clearly both confused and upset. "Is this that thing that you told _Yori_, but you won't tell me?" Ron nodded.

"RON STOPPABLE! THIS SECRET THING HAS GOTTEN OUT OF HAND! I WANT TO KNOW AND I WANT TO KNOW NOW! HOW MUCH HAS IT COST US ALREADY? HOW MUCH COULD IT COST US YET?"

"Okay, KP," Ron replied. "But not _right_ now. We're not done with Drakken yet. Once we get him taken down, no matter how late and no matter how tired we are, I'll tell you."

Kim glared at him for several long moments before relenting. "Fair enough, what do you want to do now?"

"I say we get back to your place and get you into mission gear. Then we get Wade to give us some info and we hit the Bueno Nacho headquarters."

Kim nodded. "Good thinking. If we take out the main antenna at the HQ, we foil the entire plan."

Ron drove his scooter back to the Possible residence, at a much more sedate pace than he had left it, while Kim spoke to Wade.

* * *

Mr. Barkin and the custodian had just finished starting the Gymnasium's emergency generator. Since the facility was a designated community shelter, it had one but because it was an older building, the generator had to be manually activated. A couple of police officers were in the Lobby when he returned. After speaking to them for a few minutes, he returned to the main Gym and addressed the crowd.

"All right people, here's the situation." He announced. "This city has come under some form of attack by giant robots. The attack has halted but we don't know if it will resume. Now, most of the city is without power so we are all going to stay here. In addition, several buildings have been destroyed so we are going to remove the decorations and get this building ready to house the homeless."

There were a few groans about that last one, but most of the students could appreciate the necessity.

"Prom has been suspended, people. Sometime next week we'll make the decision if and when to reschedule. Okay, I want to see EVERYONE packing up the decorations. Move it, people!"

Oscar, Cindy, Monique, and Felix hung together while they helped out. This gave them a chance to talk.

"You're sure he did that?" Monique asked Oscar.

"Yes I'm sure. He seemed just a little _too_ eager to have Kim stay here, so I decided to keep an eye on him. To be honest, I was already peeved with him because I thought that Kim and Ron…" He clamped his mouth shut with a guilty look at Monique. He had forgotten who Ron's date had been.

Monique just smiled it off. "I wouldn't have minded seeing them two together. But if you saw Eric do _that_, you'd better get yourself down to Kim's house and pass the news on to them two."

"But Barkin has told us to stay here." Oscar protested.

"Mat rat, you are just too much of a country gentleman!" Monique countered, "there's what, all of three faculty members here? How hard will it be to sneak out?"

"I'm going with you." Cindy told him.

"Okay," Felix chimed in. "You two pick up these bags of trash and head out back to the dumpsters. Monique and I will keep an eye out. When we wave, make a break for it."

* * *

Warren the roving cameraman sat at his desk in the Middleton Channel 6 Office Building. He had gotten some good footage of the robot attack but he was sure that several other stations had similar footage. He needed to pick up something extra and he was just sure that this whole thing wasn't over yet. He picked up his camera, the one with the built-in satellite feed, and jogged to his motorcycle. He had a hunch that if he followed Team Possible, he would get something special. Since he had no idea where Kim Possible was at this moment, he decided to head to the Possible Residence and wait.

* * *

Kim and Ron sat on the couch in the Den, looking at satellite pictures on the television screen. Mr. Dr. P, like Wade, had equipped his home with a backup generator. The two teens were alone at the moment. Shortly after arriving, a police car had come by to take Mrs. Dr. P to the Medical Center. A few minutes after that, agents Smith and Smith had shown up to take Mr. Dr. P to brief some government types. Kim knew that she and Ron could be in action against Drakken at any moment, so she took the tweebs to the next door neighbors. Team Possible was now making plans while Wade's carrier flyer brought over a new piece of equipment.

"The way I see it, the antenna is the key point." The young genius's voice explained from the television. "Drakken seems to have planned this fairly well. The antenna is located on top of a forty-foot concrete tower, adjacent to the Headquarters Building. The building itself is four stories, so the roof is at the same level as the antenna base. The tower seems to be about twenty feet away from the building."

"Okay Wade," Kim was all business. "What can you tell us about the grounds?"

"I don't know how we're going to get you in. The grounds are a square shaped and a half mile on a side. A double, thirty-foot electric fence borders the grounds. I'm willing to bet that the space between the fences is full of motion sensors. In addition to this, the satellite images I've been pirating show an awful lot of activity on the grounds, which could be guards. Now, I have one intriguing possibility. This new excavation he-"

The doorbell, and frantic pounding on the door, interrupted him. Ron opened the door to see Cindy and Oscar.

"Ron, Kim, you're not going to believe this!" Oscar gasped out.

"Tonight, I think I'm open for pretty much anything." Kim replied.

"Okay, here goes. After you guys left, I kept an eye on Eric, since he seemed just a _little_ too determined to keep Kim from leaving. He kept trying to leave but we wouldn't let him. Anyway, after a while a custodian comes in and says that the city is under some sort of attack, then the lights went off. Eric gave me the slip in the dark so I went looking for him. I finally found him, talking on some sort of radio just outside of the gym. A few minutes later, some sort of weird hovercraft shows up and he jumps in. But the really strange part was his tux; it flat out turned into some sort of jumpsuit! Anyway, once he got in that hovercraft it flew away."

Kim's eyes were downcast. "Well, that confirms it." She said in a very quiet voice. "He is definitely a synthodrone."

"A what?" Cindy wanted to know.

"Long story guys," Ron cut in. "For right now, I'll say that he's working for the other side. Drakken claimed to have kidnapped him."

"Why would he do that?" Asked Oscar.

"To make me loose my senses and make a stupid charge in to rescue him." Kim blurted out. "Drakken must not know that we're on to him."

Oscar had been looking at the television screen. "Hey, that's the worksite that Mr. Mickman has my dad working on! It's forty or fifty miles away, isn't it?"

"Wait a minute!" Wade protested. "I haven't been able to find out who's doing the excavation. It's Mickman's Earthmoving?"

"Yeah, dad's been really tense about it. He says that three general contractors and two construction management firms are inspecting the work. It's a real nightmare because nobody knows who's really in charge of it all."

"Front companies and intermediaries!" Wade exclaimed. "Drakken is smart! He's got a real tangled web of contractors working this job so it's hard to track down drawings."

"Dad talks in his sleep when he gets tense about work." Oscar reported. "And he's been talking a lot about something called 'the Glowworm Project.'"

Wade worked hard for a few minutes and managed to find some schematics about the latest excavation. "Okay, before we review this do me a favor. Oscar, Cindy, stand next to each other, thank you. Now Kim, point your Kimmunicator at them. Okay, hold still."

"OUCH!" "YEOW!" Neither Cindy nor Oscar seemed to appreciate the yellowish light that Kim's device emitted.

"Okay, everyone, they're definitely human." Wade reported.

"I could have told you that if you had asked me." Cindy fumed.

"Sorry guys, but Oscar showing up with this information seemed just a little to convenient. Anyway I think I have a plan." About that time, Wade's carrier flyer floated in through an open window, much to the shock of Cindy and Oscar. "I've got something that just might work."

The something looked like an oversized dart gun. "It's a resonant frequency feedback weapon." Wade explained. "Get to within forty feet of the antenna itself and shoot it with this. The projectile can't hold a charge for long, and it can't analyze the frequency of the target, the gun takes care of it."

"Wade, let's pretend that I didn't understand the practical aspects of that explanation." Ron complained.

"Right, this weapon will fry the electronics in the antenna if it's active when you shoot it. Get to the antenna, make sure it's active, aim and fire. The weapon will take two seconds to analyze the target's electrical frequencies, then another two seconds to download this information and a charge into the projectile before firing. So you'll need to hold it steady, on the antenna, for four seconds after you pull the trigger."

"Okay," Kim replied. "Now for the real gem. How do we get to the antenna?"

"You see these excavations I'm highlighting? This is a major dig, which appears designed to hold a secondary reactor. Apparently Drakken wants redundancy but he didn't dare try to sneak in enough material to build two before executing his plan. This excavation is not within the perimeter fence and plans call for a tunnel to go from it into the Main Electrical Room inside the Headquarters Building. Mickman's Earthmoving rented a small tunnel boring machine Wednesday and returned it yesterday."

"So you think there's a tunnel running from this excavation to the interior of the headquarters? That sounds a little convenient." Ron still had a healthy dose of skepticism.

"It may be guarded, and it may have various security devices installed. But if we believe the synthodrone's rant, this is all taking place a full week before Drakken had planned."

"I don't have a better idea, do any of you?" Kim asked the entire room.

"Not an idea exactly, but maybe an addition." Oscar replied, walking over to stand nose to nose with Ron. "Didn't you say that Drakken told you he had captured Eric so that you would make some sort of rash rescue attempt?" Kim nodded. "Why don't we give him just that?" Oscar was looking close at Ron. While Oscar was huskier, the two boys were about the same height.

Kim looked at Cindy, who was sizing her up in the exact same way.


	46. Moving Into Place

**Chapter 45: Moving into Place.**

Warren the roving reporter had just arrived at his stake out point down the block from the Possibles' Residence. He adamantly refused to turn on his camera at this time. He was no paparazzo, he would follow Kim Possible until she did something newsworthy before filming and transmitting. He idly noted that more and more streetlights were coming back on when a large, boxy van pulled up to the house. _Four_ people wearing Team Possible mission gear emerged from the house. They loaded a scooter into the van before piling in themselves. Warren let the van get a couple of blocks ahead before he started his motorcycle and followed.

* * *

More and more parents had shown up at the Middleton High Gym to pick up their kids. By the time the regular power had been restored, only a handful of students were left. This handful included Felix, Monique, and Bonnie. All of the kids were getting restive and several uprooted families had shown up to spend the night in the gym. Barkin refused to let and students leave without a proper guardian, even to answer the Mayor's call for volunteers to smash every diablo toy they could find. Finally, Felix had an idea.

"Mr. Barkin, " he asked, "can I go to the Distance Learning Room? It's in this building and we might be able to get some news. While the local stations are off line, we can use the satellite dish to get some national broadcasts and find out what's happening outside of Middleton."

Mr. Barkin considered this for a moment. "Sounds good to me, just no leaving the building."

"Thanks, Mr. B." Felix headed out, followed by Monique and after a few seconds hesitation, Bonnie.

* * *

The four teens made last minute adjustments to their plans.

"You two understand, don't you?" Kim stressed to Cindy and Oscar. "Just approach the fence and run along side. Once you see pursuit, or any sort of reaction, clear out."

"We understand," Cindy assured her.

"Who's driving?" Ron asked.

"I am," Cindy replied. "I own a motorcycle, so I'm the better driver." She looked at Oscar. "All you have to do is hold on _and be careful where you're putting your hands, buster_." She gave her boyfriend a mock glare.

"Speaking of who does what, you're going to have to shoot Wade's electro-frying thingy, KP." Ron informed her. Kim looked at him and he pointed to his left eye, which had swollen shut. "No depth perception. You're also going to have to guide me on the fly-in."

Kim nodded, and the four continued to plot and plan.

* * *

Warren followed the van for just over a half-hour, sometimes at breakneck speeds on the highway. Keeping up wasn't easy, especially considering that he had to keep his headlight off to keep from being noticed. Finally, the van stopped where a gravel road intersected the highway. The four people unloaded the scooter and two of them climbed on. The two on the scooter exchanged handshakes and hugs with the other two. Then the scooter took off at a very impressive clip, down the highway. The other two climbed in the van, which took the gravel road. Warren thought for a few seconds, then followed the scooter.

* * *

It took only a few minutes for the van to reach Kim and Ron's drop off point. The two teens put on their jet-glider packs and connected themselves together with a length of rope. They checked their watches and took off. They had to approach the compound from a different angle than Cindy and Oscar.

* * *

"What's the reactor capacity at this time?" Dr. Drakken demanded.

"Eighty-one percent," a technician answered.

Dr. Drakken smiled; _it wouldn't be long now_!

"Hey doc," Shego addressed her employer. "We've got more than enough juice to operate the local repeater, why not fire up your defense force?"

"Nervous, Shego?" Drakken taunted. "I intend to let Kim Possible make an appearance before I activate our local repeater. Let her come in, so that I do not need to worry where she may be. Until then, lets not warn the various armed forces around the world. They will think that Middleton was an isolated incident, but if I tip my hand too soon, they may go on full alert."

"Reactor at eighty-five percent capacity." The technician reported.

"There's a scooter approaching, it matches the description of Subject Two's vehicle." Another technician reported.

"On the viewing screen." Drakken ordered. Soon, everyone in the Control Room could see the oncoming scooter.

* * *

Cindy turned aside as she reached the main gate. Kim had told her to not go inside under any circumstances_. I hope this works_, she thought, _and I hope that they try to catch us, not just blast us to smithereens._

* * *

"Why didn't she charge straight in? Drakken demanded. He turned to Eric. "Apparently you didn't make the proper impression. She should be rushing to your rescue at this moment."

"I'm only as good as my programmer." The synthodrone challenged. Drakken scowled at him.

"Or she could be taking readings and sending them back to her technical wizard." Shego suggested.

"That must be it!" Drakken concluded. "Activate the local repeater. Let's eliminate Team Possible before they can become a nuisance."

* * *

"They're active!" Wades voice sounded in four teenagers' helmets. "Cindy, Oscar, get clear! Kim, Ron, now's your chance!"

All around the perimeter, hidden diablos erupted to their fifteen-foot height and closed in on the scooter. Cindy spun the vehicle away from the fence and hit the red button. With a massive plume of flame, the scooter screamed away from the fence with diablos forming up into pursuit.

Kim and Ron, just skimming into the excavation, saw the chase. With a shock, they also saw three of the diablos flying! _Cindy, Oscar, get out of there, be safe!_ The two teens unconsciously thought the same thing, even though they knew it was beyond their control at this time. They set down, Ron rather roughly, and quickly found the tunnel. They hurried inside and shucked their packs. While Ron started to scan for security devices, Kim keyed her Kimmunicator. "We're in the tunnel."

* * *

Warren had hidden his bike, and himself, just in time. First the scooter came rushing back down the highway faster than a Formula 1 racecar, then came the pursuit of four rolling and three flying diablos. He picked up his camera and started to transmit. Once the pursuit flew by, he continued towards Bueno Nacho Headquarters. He just _knew_ something big was going to happen there.

* * *

"Hey guys, I've got a video feed from someone trying to send to Channel 6." Felix reported. Monique and Bonnie both looked then stared. Monique quickly ran to fetch Mr. Barkin.

For the second time that night, Diablo robots roamed the streets of Middleton. However, this time there were very few. The good citizens had spent the intervening time crushing every one of the toys they could find. The half-dozen or so that remained concentrated on securing City Facilities, so there were no additional power outages. The diablos and the citizens settled into an uneasy standoff.

* * *

The Kimmunicator found a single motion detector, which they were able to disable. The tunnel wasn't even lined yet, just a circular tube, seven feet across, with a padlocked door at one end. Kim used her laser-lipstick cutter to remove the lock, and the teens quickly found themselves inside the main breaker room. The two teens opened the door to find a deserted hallway. Ron checked the ceiling; it was drop-in tile. Kim hopped up onto Ron's shoulders and Ron passed Rufus up to her. She lifted a tile and placed Rufus above the ceiling. The valiant rodent scurried off and the teens returned to the Breaker Room to wait. Wade hadn't been able to find plans for the remodeled headquarters, so they needed Rufus to scout.

* * *

One of the flying diablos landed ahead of the scooter, so Cindy turned off of the highway and onto a swerving, mountain road. The rolling diablos couldn't match her speed through the curves and the flying ones overshot the twisting road. Out of sight for the moment, Cindy slowed down enough for her and Oscar to jump off of the scooter. The two teens crawled into the underbrush as a diablo landed directly on top of the vehicle, crushing it. The other two flyers set down nearby then the three machines fanned out and started to stalk through the forest. Back the way they had come, four more of the machines showed up, spread out and advanced along the road.

_They're hunting us_, Oscar realized. While Oscar had never been hunted before, he had hunted pheasants, grouse, rabbits and other small game since he was twelve years old. And while the steep forest he found himself in tonight was much different than the North Dakota prairie where he had grown up, one vital fact remained true for the situation. _The game that panics and runs gets shot, _he recalled_. While the game that keeps its head survives to pass on its genes_. Oscar grimaced, _where did that last thought come from?_ He glanced at Cindy, _not the time to be thinking of _that. He tapped her shoulder and motioned for her to follow him into the densest cover he could find, moving towards the advancing monstrosities.

* * *

Warren reached the Bueno Nacho Headquarters and climbed a small bluff overlooking the grounds. Once on top, he climbed a tree. Perfect! From here, he was hidden and could see the entire compound. He could even see the main building's roof. Now it was a waiting game.

* * *

"The scooter has been destroyed but Team Possible has not been eliminated." One of the technicians reported. "Seven units are searching at this time."

"Send a mobile security team," Drakken ordered. "I want Team Possible neutralized at all costs but I _will_ accept a surrender."

"Surrender," Shego snorted, glaring at Eric. "If loverboy here would have done his job right, she wouldn't be out there right now. She'd be back at that dance with a stupid grin on her face, probably trying to sneak behind the bleachers with him. How'd you screw it up, plastic boy? We'd set her up prefectly for you."

"_I_ was doing my job." Eric countered. "I had her isolating herself from her friends and was starting to break them up even more, like we had planned. It seems to me that a certain overconfident, loudmouthed hussy couldn't keep up her end! We copied _your_ personality into a drop-dead gorgeous girl and unleashed her on a heartbroken, hormone-filled teenaged boy. All we got out of it was a single homework date! You couldn't get him to leave his friends or even fall for her. You're even pathetic in a sculpted body."

Shego's eyes went narrow. She fired up one of her hands. "Care to see how I do in _this _body?"

Eric dropped into a fighting stance. "Bring it on! I had to back away from that kid at the dance, so I wouldn't reveal myself, but you're fair game!"

"Silence, both of you!" Drakken was in no mood for bickering. "I would have preferred Kim Possible to be at her dance, oblivious to me but the advantage is still mine. Team Possible is ten miles away and running scared. The world's governments have no real concept about what will shortly strike them." The villain then grinned broadly, "and I discovered Kim Possible's greatest weakness!"

Shego rolled her eyes, "you found out she was boy-crazy? Not bad Doc, but I could have figured that out in a day, you spent months."

"Bah! Shego, you're shortsighted! Almost every teenager has a weakness for the opposite gender and Kim Possible is no different. While the boy-craziness is something I _did_ exploit, it isn't her _greatest_ weakness." The doctor's face stretched into a very smug grin. "Kim Possible's greatest weakness is her-"

"Doctor," a technician cut it. "The reactor is now at ninety percent capacity."

Doctor Drakken's face flashed immediately from smugness to triumph. "Excellent! This is the hour I have worked for months to achieve!" He stood up straight. "Activate the global network!"


	47. Head in the Game

**Chapter 46: Head In the Game.**

Ron noticed that the low humming coming from the breaker panels around him had become louder, but he really didn't worry about it. He was more concerned with his partner. After releasing Rufus, Kim had grown more and more despondent. She refused to make eye contact with him, but he could see the tears and her lower lip quivering. This was so _not_ the time for her to have some sort of a breakdown!

"I know that waiting can be hard Kim, but Rufus should be back before too much longer."

"That's not it and you know it." She sniffed. "I've been thinking. Why did Drakken release Eric the synthodrone before he released Dessie the synthodrone?"

"Because you're his chief foe and he had to keep you sidetracked."

"No, that's why he created Eric, not why he released Eric first." She looked up at him, tears pouring down her eyes. "He released Eric first because he wanted to break up Team Possible and he knew that I was the weak link! He knew that you would never, **never** abandon me unless I abandoned you first." Her head dropped again. "And that's exactly what I did."

She sobbed quietly for a time. Ron didn't know what to say. Finally, looking for a response, she said, "Ron?"

"Yeah KP?"

"Let's deal with something that we've both been dancing around for this past week." She gamely raised her head again. "We were close to getting together, you and I, weren't we?"

"I thought so." Ron started to feel the hurt and anger over it start to return.

"I **knew** we were. After we rescued that couple from the cabin, I started thinking about things. I thought about how shallow they were; they went out on a romantic getaway, ran into a little hardship, and turned on each other! I thought about how I never wanted to be like that, then I looked at you and I thought about everything we had gone through together! Stranded in a comfortable cabin overnight? HA! I looked at what we've been through together and realized just how tight we had become!" Then she dropped her head again. "And that's when I started to see you as a boyfriend, not just a best friend."

Ron continued to look at her, still at a loss for words.

She faced him again. "But I didn't know if you would feel the same way, so I started to flirt with you…When you started to flirt back, I was so happy! I **knew** we were about to get together and I **knew** it was just all going to work out!" Her tears started again. "That's when I had a **chance** conversation with Bonnie and a couple of her posse."

Once again, she seemed unable to meet his eyes but she still forged forward. "That's when everything I felt, everything I knew, just evaporated. The only thing that mattered to me was what **they** thought of me, what _**they**_ thought of any boy that I dated. All of the feelings I had for you just didn't seem to matter anymore. I couldn't even realize that the whole thing just had to have been staged. Since when does Bonnie care about my life?" She buried her face in her hands. "But they didn't consider you proper boyfriend material for me, so I didn't consider you proper boyfriend material for me. That's why I brushed you off. I couldn't get the courage up to talk to you about it, because I knew that if I did, if we discussed it, I was going to say the wrong thing"

"Did it ever occur to you that **not saying anything** was _doing _the wrong thing?" Ron's tone dropped the temperature in the room.

Kim flinched but continued. "Yes it did, but I couldn't stand the thought of the look on your face if I talked to you. The thought of you looking hurt and knowing that it was my fault would have been terrible. Even worse, what if you had just shrugged the whole thing off? That would have meant that you didn't really feel anything and I couldn't stand facing that. So I just convinced myself that it was all for the best and brushed you off."

"The sum total is that I pushed you away and I shouldn't have. Then **Eric** showed up and he was gorgeous and everything that they said I should be looking for in a boyfriend and I just melted." Her distaste for her own actions her eyes. "He had me so wrapped up that I quit thinking! I even started to ignore you, throwing twelve years of friendship away for a guy who I didn't even know! But that's not the worst part."

_Do I really want to know the worst part?_ Ron asked himself.

"He…he started to say things about you." Kim continued, starting to sob. "It-it wasn't all that blunt, at least not at first. But he started to hint that you…you weren't the sort of person I should be hanging around with. That Oscar, Cindy, Felix, and Monique weren't up to my status. I had an image to maintain, after all and while it was sweet that I was fond of you, I really should be grooming my public image. He told me that I was famous and if I hung with you guys it would bring me down and force you guys to deal with fame you couldn't handle. So I started to avoid you. He also told me that the missions were crimping my style, so I wasn't really listening to Wade when he called me." She cried, hard, for a few minutes before she could continue. "Then Monique confronted me after school on Wednesday. She asked me if I even remembered you! Then she brought up the chance that by completely blowing you off, by ignoring my best friend and the guy that I had wanted to be my boyfriend, I might have just hurt you to the point that you wouldn't be willing to be my friend anymore. I got mad at her and she stormed off but thank God she made me think."

Now Kim was able to bring her eyes up to meet his. "I had a little talk with Eric that evening and he went directly into damage control mode. He said that I had misunderstood him, he only wanted what was the best for me." She shook her head. "And I believed him. After spending twelve plus years with a guy, no _the_ guy who's always wanted the best for me, I believed _him_. Because he was hot and I was looking for an excuse to stay with him." She leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. "God, how could I have been so shallow?"

It still didn't seem the proper time for Ron to speak, so he continued to wait. Finally, Kim continued in a much more Kim-like voice. "But there you were when I decided to reconnect with you... You didn't blow me off, or try for your pound of flesh. You just shrugged off my shallowness and were ready to be my friend, again. It was just like old times and it made me come to a decision. I was ready to break up with Eric." She let out a snort of self-disgust. "But only after my triumph over** Bonnie **at the** Prom**, of course. I guess I was still just too shallow to not get in my dig. But the fact was, he was demanding that I quit being friends with you, and he just wasn't worth it."

Now she looked him right in the eye, kind of the way a brave but condemned man might look at the firing squad. "So now you know the truth, Ron Stoppable. You're the guy I should have been at the dance with. You're the guy who should have had me distracted for the last two weeks. You're the guy I ignored and took for granted because I'm just so darned used to you always being there, I-I can't picture a time when you won't be. Can you f-forgive me? C-Can we go back? Can we take up b-being friends, or more?"

Suddenly it was time for Ron to speak and he realized that he had two real choices_. She's trying to act in control but she isn't_, he realized. _She's fragile, emotionally, right now. If I want to, I can take my pound of flesh right here. Just a raised voice and a few choice words will have her crying on the floor. I could grab Rufus, go out the tunnel, and just head out and hide. After all, who'll be able to blame a sixteen-year-old kid for not stopping a worldwide conspiracy? Drakken's got a good plan but the armed forces will put an end to it. Of course, how many will die stopping him?_

_Or I can do the right thing. Take the most painful, least gratifying action. Rise above the fact that she dropped me out of her life for over a week, for a new guy, and act like her friend of twelve years. No, I'm not her boyfriend and I probably never will be. But if I'm not her friend, her partner, the guy who steps up when the bad guys need to be taken down, then I'm not much of anything at all._

_So those are the choices, Stoppable: Petty revenge or painful, self-denying honor. God, maturity tanks!_

"KP," he began. "I think that you're loosing sight of the fact that we're teenagers. If I understand my 'rents, your 'rents and Rabbi Katz, we're going to make stupid mistakes with relationships, because we don't have much experience and the only way to gain experience is to make mistakes. Yes, I'm hurt and confused right now but I can get over it, eventually. I'm willing to bet that you're hurt and embarrassed right now but, again, you'll get over it."

"I think that you're also loosing sight of the fact that we're dealing with a master villain." Ron continued, "we don't know how long Drakken has been working on this or how many people he's brought in on it. Back when I bagged Shego with Drakken's coat, I asked you if she was going to be mad at me. You told me that she was and that I should feel complimented by her hate. Well, I guess you can take Eric as a compliment. Drakken took the time out of this scheme to come up with a way to neutralize you. Sure you're embarrassed but doesn't that say something about how he fears and respects you?" He said with a grin.

"Bottom line up front," Ron concluded. "Is that **we're** still a team, **we're** still friends, **we're **still in the game, and **we're** in position to stop the bad guy. We've taken some lumps, both individually and as friends but as long as we learn from it, it's only going to make **us** better in the long run."

Kim had gotten to her feet during Ron's speech. While he spoke, her shoulders straightened and her chin came up. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and no more appeared to replace them. The tremble in her hands and lower lip had vanished. A slight smile formed on her lips as she spoke, "I **have** learned, Ron Stoppable. I've learned who's important to me and I've learned to make sure that they know it." She approached him. "I've learned what boyfriend material really is to me. To me, the best boyfriend material is-"

"Squeak!"

"Rufus!"

"Rufus?" Ron didn't quite know what to make of that last revelation, then he followed Kim's stare to where his little buddy had just slid under the door. "Rufus! Did you find anything useful?"

* * *

"Oh my God!" Felix had gone pale. The young man had been flitting through transmissions, trying to find more news from beyond Middleton when… 

"What is it, Renton?" Mr. Barkin asked. In response, Felix manipulated the screen controls to show multiple scenes simultaneously.

"Those giant robots, they're everywhere." He answered, manipulating the controls and working through multiple feeds. "Rome, London, Paris, Tokyo, everywhere. Those things are running everywhere! This isn't just some local extortion attempt, this is a worldwide invasion!"

* * *

"Uh-huh!" The rodent said, pleased with himself. He then broke into a series of squeaks and chitterings that only Ron could understand. 

Ron listened for a few minutes then looked up at Kim, smiled and said, "I think we have a plan."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story.

A bigger thanks to everyone who has taken the time to provide reviews.

A special thank-you goes to Joe Stoppinghem for Beta reading, and smoothing out some of my rough writing.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the story.

daccu65


	48. Showdown at Bueno Nacho

Chapter 47: Clash at Bueno Nacho

"Her pride?" Shego asked, she couldn't have heard that correctly.

"Of course, Shego." Drakken answered. "Kim Possible takes pride to the level of arrogance. She not only demands excellence from herself, she also wants her peers and rivals to acknowledge her accomplishments and she lets **them** define success!"

"Consider the boyfriend issue," Drakken continued with a smirk on a face. "Kim Possible wanted a boyfriend, much like most other sixteen-year old girls. The fact that other sixteen year old girls around her had one, and she didn't, made her want a boyfriend even more! This left an opening, a point of wounded pride that we could exploit!"

"That's why you had me log onto that 'I Hate Kim Possible' chatroom and make friends with her high school rival!" Shego concluded. "So that we could manipulate her boy chasing!"

"Exactly, Shego." The doctor agreed. "The money I paid that psychoanalyst was money well spent indeed! With his direction and your experience with Possible, you were able to pass her rival information needed to take advantage of her pride! That girl was able to convince Possible that other girls would look down on her if she dated her sidekick. She then convinced Possible that she needed a 'statement' boy, one who would make the other girls envious of her. Possible's pride caused her to fall for the setup."

Drakken then smiled at Eric. "Enter Synthodrone 901! The modeling agent I hired came up with the perfect blend of handsome and homey needed to catch Possible's eye. As for the personality," here the doctor almost collapsed with laughter. "We had a nearly perfect match to Possible's personality to us a model for your behavior! In one masterstroke we caused Possible to turn her back on her partner and become a crushing sheep on my agent! The dominant force behind Team Possible was essentially neutralized!"

Drakken slowly frowned and cupped his chin between a thumb and forefinger. "I only wish I understood why Unit 902 didn't have better luck with Stoppable. Boys are easy! Crank up the hormone level and the brain cells get squeezed dry. Any normal sixteen-year old boy should have been so smitten by a girl that attractive that his brain would have stopped." Drakken shook his head and waved his hands. "No matter, Team Possible is hiding in the woods and my robots are running rampant worldwide!"

The doctor twirled in triumph and found himself standing face to face with Kim Possible.

For a second, the two adversaries stared at each other. Kim was tempted to give him a lecture about having a rough enough time being a teenage girl growing up in the public eye, instead she settled for a right cross to his jaw. Shego and Eric just stood there, stunned.

"Kim, the roof!" Ron's shout brought her out of her reverie and she ran up the stairs to the roof hatch that Rufus had scouted out for them. Eric came out of his stupor before anyone else and took off in pursuit.

"Wrong idea, syntho-dude!" Ron advised him, as he brought the drone down with a leg scissors. Ron was on top of him in a moment, pinning him down and taking great glee in grinding that handsome face into the stairs. Shego didn't bother with the combatants. She launched herself over them and in hot pursuit of Kim. Ron let loose of Eric and chased after Shego. He had to give Kim enough time to destroy the antenna!

Kim managed to not pause and gawk at the sight. A full score of flying robots circled the compound while the fence was literally lined with the machines. She spotted the antenna and ran for that side of the roof. As she ran, a familiar, sizzling sound made her tumble to the side, barely avoiding a plasma blast. She spun around, seeing that Shego had made it to the roof.

Ron reached the roof just in time to see Kim dodge a plasma blast. He hesitated and that hesitation cost him. Eric grabbed the boy by the collar and hurled him back against a wall. While Ron saw stars behind his eyelids, he ducked into a tumbling, forward roll. Eric's follow-up punch flew over his head and Ron sprang to his feet and drove a knee into Eric's face. Eric fell backwards with Ron on top of him but the synthodrone got his feet between them and threw Ron over his head. Ron hit the roof with a tumbling summersault and hopped to his feet. Eric sprang upright, as well. The two closed in on each other again.

"I guess we've chosen our partners for this dance," Ron told Eric, ducking the synthodrone's punch.

* * *

Warren knew that something would happen. With his camera to his eye and the zoom activated, he recognized Possible, her sidekick, and Shego. Another young man had appeared as well, and was clearly on Shego's side. Warren pressed his transmit button.

* * *

Back at the Middleton High Gym Building, Felix locked onto a familiar signal. "Hey, check this out!" He exclaimed. "That same guy's transmitting to Channel 6 again!" Felix brought the picture on the screen. 

"Okay, Possible and that green woman are fighting again," Bonnie observed. "But why are Eric and Stoppable fighting each other?"

"Oscar saw Eric jump into some sort of hovership after the lights went out," Monique explained. "We figured he was working for one of Kim's enemies. You know, distracting her and keeping an eye on her. To bad she didn't just get together with Ron instead." Bonnie flinched.

"Something isn't right about Eric," Barkin observed. "He should be down. Stoppable has picked up some hand-to-hand combat training somewhere, and some of those hits should have dropped that boy." The big man winced when he saw Ron take a hard blow to the gut. Ron, however, responded by driving a thumb into one of Eric's eyes. "There's no way that Eric is human!" Barkin declared. "That should have removed his eye! Just what's been going on here?"

* * *

Oscar and Cindy were jogging as fast as they could through the dark forest. They had found the thickest cover that they could, and hid while the hunting robots passed them by, even though one giant foot had only missed them by a couple of feet. Once the robot had passed, the teens had crawled until they were out of sight of the monstrosities. Now they were on their feet, putting as much distance between them and the hunters as they could. Their plan was to get back to the highway and follow it to a building and hopefully a telephone. 

The teens broke out of the trees and found themselves in a small clearing. They quickly turned and sought cover again but a bright light spotlighted them.

"Freeze you two!" They heard from above them. They stopped and held their hands away from their bodies. The light was coming from some sort of flying platform, which was now lowering into the clearing. Oscar could just make out one of the two figures on the platform raise some sort of microphone to his face.

"We've got them!"

* * *

Drakken rubbed his jaw, stumbling to his position behind the workstations. This was a critical time and his direction was vital. For all of his hard work, his power distribution system could only support about ten percent of his robots flying at any time, so these flying assets had to be carefully allocated. In addition, although all of his robots had weapons, he had only been able to smuggle and/or construct a limited amount of ammunition. Selected robots had loaded themselves at his ammunition caches. These units were divided between military bases and a reserve force. 

"Doctor," one of his technicians interrupted his musings. "Shall I order some diablos to eliminate Team Possible?"

"No, you fool! The diablos are capable but clumsy. They will not be used near the antenna or the reactor! Shego and Eric will handle those two!"

"Doctor," another technician chimed in. "Our mobile security team reports that they have caught Team Possible."

"Inform the security team that they have caught imposters, bring them in."

"Doctor," a third man reported. "There's a problem at Fort Riley."

Doctor Drakken rushed to that workstation. It appeared that an armored battalion had been conducting a nighttime live fire exercise during the attack. The battalion commander had redistributed his remaining live ammunition and had split his forces. Half had re-taken the base's ammunition bunkers, while the other half had retaken the base's motor pools. Service personnel were rushing to their Company Orderly Rooms, organizing and arming themselves. Drakken ordered half of his reserve to Fort Riley; he had no intention of allowing the Big Red One to arm itself.

_The next few hours are critical_, he reminded himself. He had a good chance of subduing all meaningful resistance in the next few hours. If he did that, the world was his! If he didn't, it could be the bloodiest day in human history.

* * *

Ron was losing and he knew it. Oh, he was landing three, maybe four good shots on Eric for every hit he was taking but it wasn't enough. He was wearing down, more and more he was blocking strikes instead of evading them and even blocks left him battered and bruised. Eric knew this and the synthodrone's smug grin was infuriating. 

_Synthodrone, no bones to break and no internal organs to damage_, Ron thought. _One little puncture will finish him but I'm not strong enough to punch a fist through his syntho-skin. I need a weapon! The Lotus Blade_? Ron considered it while jumping over a foot-sweep. _Even if I could achieve the inner harmony, while fighting, that I need to summon it, considering the distance from Japan to here it will arrive somewhere between too late and never. _He drove a fist into the back of Eric's head and looked over at Kim.

Kim was doing better than he was, but not by much. They hadn't had a chance to rig a holster for Wade's electronics frying weapon, so Kim was forced to hold it in one hand. Kim and Shego had always been very closely matched but Kim was now handicapped by the need to keep the weapon safe. Shego was slowly beating Kim. The way things were going, Eric would eventually leave Ron in a quivering heap then assist Shego with Kim. They wouldn't even get a shot at the antenna.

THE ANTENNA!

Suddenly Ron understood the situation. The fighting was just a distraction. The goal was to take out the antenna. If they managed that, it wouldn't matter what Shego and Eric did to Kim and him. He didn't have to beat Eric to take down the antenna, just give Kim four seconds. He knew how to do it.

Over the years, he had observed Kim and Shego fighting countless times and the two combatants had developed a sort of routine. While they were always adjusting their strikes and counters, Ron had learned to anticipate, in a general sort of way, when one would retreat or push the issue. He maneuvered himself so that Eric was between him and the other two combatants and went on the defensive. Eric apparently thought he was exhausted, because the synthodrone launched a flurry of blows, which Ron gamely blocked. Finally, he saw Shego let loose a series of high punches and kicks, which Kim ducked. It was time for Ron to make his move.

Ron made a high feint at Eric's head. As soon as the synthodrone reacted, Ron shot a wresting double-leg takedown, driving his right shoulder into Eric's stomach and lifting the synthodrone off of the ground. In the meantime, Kim threw a quick succession of low kicks and strikes, which Shego avoided by performing three graceful back flips. Eric managed a glancing blow on Ron's back. Ron gritted his teeth and forced himself into a sprint, with Eric still draped over his shoulder, he picked his point and dove. Shego finished her last flip by landing in a combat ready crouch, ready to close with Kim again. She was caught completely unaware when the lunging mass that was Ron and Eric landed on top of her.

"KIM, THE ANTENNA!" Ron screamed. He knew that he couldn't hold his adversaries down for long. The only reason that Shego hadn't fried him already was that she couldn't risk destroying Eric. Ron felt Shego's claws rake his right calf but he braced his legs wide, unleashing fists and elbows as fast as he could. Sometimes he hit synthetic skin; sometimes he hit warm, greenish skin. He was beyond caring which, as long as he hit something.

Kim didn't hesitate when she heard Ron's scream. She spun around, ran to the edge of the roof, aimed at the antenna, and pulled the trigger. What followed was the longest four seconds of her life. She could hear every curse, every shout and every impact of flesh on flesh behind her. She needed to maintain her aim on the antenna, so she couldn't turn and see. After a few eternities spent imagining all of the terrible things happening to Ron, the weapon shot the projectile. The dart flew across the twenty feet of open air and struck what appeared to be a microwave transmitter.

Shego was more enraged than she had ever been. She had been getting the better of the princess when the blasted distraction had dog piled her with the ambulatory sack of glop. With her face pressed into the roof, Shego had been forced to suppress her first instinct, which was to reach behind her back and plasma-fry anything on top of her. She knew her track record against Team Possible and she had no intention of finding herself, alone, tangling with both Kim and Ron. Shego had managed to reach back and positively identify Stoppable's leg before sinking in her claws. Unfortunately for her, the pest had pulled his leg out of her range and had then started pounding on both of his opponents, nailing her on the back of the head more than once. Shego put her hands down on the roof and did a violent push-up. This gave her enough space to roll over, get her feet between her and the two dolts on top of her and kick. Both Eric and Ron went flying and Shego sprang to her feet.

The antenna erupted in a shower of sparks from top to bottom when the dart struck. The gentle humming, which Kim hadn't even noticed before it stopped, was replaced by a harsh, loud buzz. She hadn't even wondered what this meant when a sliding body took her feet out from under her and crashed against the roof's railing. Kim kept enough of her wits to fall properly and identify a dazed and battered Ron as the object that had just undercut her. Kim jumped to her feet and spun around just as Shego reached her own feet. Kim noted, in triumph, that diablo toys were raining onto the roof.

* * *

"Doctor, we are no longer transmitting!" A technician shouted. Doctor Drakken ran to the technician's workstation and examined the readings. 

"The isolation transformers have been shorted!" Drakken yelled, with panic in his voice. "Send the synthodrones to replace them before it's too late!"

"Sir," the technician cut in, "The human maintenance team can do the job faster."

"Idiot!" Drakken snapped back. "The main power line is now shorted directly to the antenna structure! That antenna is highly charged! Humans will die upon contact but the drones won't be harmed! Get them to work while I observe!" With that, the Doctor charged up the stairs and onto the roof.

* * *

Oscar and Cindy stood, as the two men lowered their hover-platform. One of the men pointed something that looked like a handgun at the two teens and hopped to the ground. As he approached them, the other landed the craft and joined him. None of the four seemed to know what to do for a full minute, then one of the men received a radio call. 

"Hey, this isn't Team Possible! These are just high school kids."

"So," the larger of the two said, "thought you'd just pull one over on us, huh? Well get this, kiddies, this isn't that stupid cartoon with the talking dog! You mess with us, there's a price to pay!" His companion holstered his weapon, grabbed Cindy by her hair and dragged her back towards the hover-platform. The larger man holstered his weapon and marched right up to tower over Oscar.

"The boss says bring you back, not bring you back unharmed." He grabbed the front of Oscar's shirt and lifted the teen up against a tree. The big man was very confused when Oscar smiled at him. Of course, he didn't know that he had just placed himself belly-to-belly with a wrestling champion.

* * *

"Guys, I think Kim and Ron have won!" Felix declared. "Look at all of these feeds, the robots have all shrunk down to toys and deactivated! Whatever Kim did to that antenna knocked them out!" 

"That's good," Mr. Barkin said in a solemn voice. "But keep this feed up. Kim and Ron are still in danger."

All four stared at the screen, which showed Shego and Kim climbing to their feet and facing each other.

* * *

Shego was steamed. It wasn't that the plan was falling apart, which was bad enough in its own way. It would have been nice to ride Drakken's coattails to world conquest and the resulting luxurious life, but that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was that little Kimmie had managed to knock out the antenna after Shego had gone up to stop her. The little cheerleader had beaten her again! 

"Okay, princess!" The mercenary roared at the redhead. "That does it! I've had enough of you!" With that, Shego ignited her hands and charged, beyond rage. The mercenary didn't even attempt one of her skillful attacks. She simply extended her hands and dove at the redhead. Kim caught Shego's wrists and dropped to her back, bringing her feet up into Shego's stomach and sending her flying over Kim's head. The mercenary flew off of the roof, across the twenty feet of open air and into the antenna.

Her hands, still charged with plasma, struck the charged support structure.

Kim had to admit that the explosion was impressive. Shego's hands had managed to hit two support struts, which had vaporized. The teen heroine's smug expression quickly evaporated when she realized that without the support struts, the entire structure had become unstable. The antenna began to fall, in the direction of the missing support. Directly towards her and the still stunned Ron.

* * *

Cindy struggled with her assailant, who was trying to cuff her to the hover platform's railing. While she was no weak girl, cheerleading and gymnastics had made her surprisingly muscular, she was still sixteen, relatively petite, and severely outsized. Not only that, but the larger of the two thugs was roughing up her boyfriend. While she wasn't a fighter, like Kim, she had no intention of just standing there, helpless, while these two brutes mugged Oscar. 

Suddenly, her assailant released her and went sprawling, in a wild jumble of limbs, over the railing and onto the forest floor. It took her a moment to realize that Oscar had just tackled the man, grappling with him. She looked towards where she had last seen her boyfriend and saw the other thug face down on the ground, moving and moaning feebly. Looking back to her boyfriend, she noted that he had managed to maneuver himself behind his opponent and lock a choking hold on the man's throat. She ran to the melee, wincing at the horrid shade of blue the thug's face had become. The man was out by the time she got to them.

Thinking quickly, she retrieved the man's weapon, aimed it at the hover platform's controls, and pulled the trigger. A ball of soft, green light burst from the muzzle and scorched a hole in the control console. Oscar had regained his feet and the larger thug was starting to move with a little more strength, so she grabbed Oscar's hand and led him off into the forest.

"How did you take that first guy out, he's a lot bigger than you?" Cindy asked Oscar, after a few minutes of quick jogging.

Oscar smirked, "if he had just beaten me up, I couldn't have handled him. Instead, he decided to start out by choking me. That put him in close where I had the advantage."

"Okay," she said, "but wrestling isn't self defense! How did you take him out? That guy really looked like he was in pain!"

Despite that fact that they were jogging, Oscar managed a snort of laughter. "Cindy, I've wrestled for eight years now. Don't you think I've learned how to cheat?"

* * *

Rufus scampered through the plenum space under the floor of the Control Room. Each of the workstations above him generated a bundle of cables that dropped down into the plenum space and he was inspecting these bundles. Finally, he found what he was looking for, a data port on one of the cables. While Wade's extractor was a wonderfully compact item for a human teenager, it was big and bulky for a mole rat. Rufus, however managed to drag the unit to the data port, plug it in, and hit the button on the unit. The valiant little mammal hoped that the human on the screen would be able to use this to find out how the bad human had made **his human**, and the human that should be his mate, sad.

* * *

Kim only had moments to react. Ron was struggling to his feet but was in no condition to dodge the mass of metal falling his way. In desperation, Kim grabbed him, jumped up, placed her feet on his chest and kicked with all her strength. She flew one way, Ron flew the other and the antenna crashed onto the roof in between them. Kim jumped to her feet, idly noticing that there was an absolute swarm of police vehicles converging on the building and started to run around the twisted mass of metal to find her best friend. 

Ron hadn't flown as far as Kim had; as a result the antenna had only missed him by a few feet. He was coming around and had gotten to his knees when a hated set of feet appeared right in front of him.

"Well loser," the hated voice said. "It looks like you might have actually won. My father's plans have all fallen apart but I can still do what I was made to do. My purpose in life was to break up Team Possible and I can still do that. If it's of any consolation, you were a lot tougher than I thought you'd be, of course that's not saying much."

Ron still didn't have a weapon, but as Eric's hand grabbed him by the collar and started to hoist him up, he had an idea. Ron grabbed Eric around the waist, lifted him and threw himself backwards. Both combatants tumbled into the twisted metal that was the fallen antenna. The two grappled with each other, rolling over on the shifting, shattered rubble until Eric's superior strength exerted itself and he regained his feet. Ron had taken further injury; he had taken a slash along the left side of his ribcage, a cut under his right eye and a gouge in his right thigh but he had hope. Down on one knee, Ron noticed a slow trickle of yellowish-green fluid forming a puddle around the synthodrone's left foot.

Ron clamped his arms tight around his opponent's waist and squeezed with all of his strength. He felt Eric's fists hammer him in the ribs and even though he felt something give way, he was beyond pain. The trickle of fluid had become a stream. Ron got his feet under him yet again and struggled to stand while maintaining his bear hug on the synthodrone. Eric's fists hit him again but not very hard. Eric was loosing strength. Ron let out a roar of mingled anger and triumph and lurched the rest of the way to his feet.

* * *

Kim circled the rubble and gasped in horror. Ron was on one knee; arms around Eric's waist and the synthodrone had just raised his fists. Even as she ran to help, Eric brought his fists down into Ron's ribs. The boy's chest caved under the double blow and Kim knew that he had damaged ribs, at least. As she drew closer, she noticed a yellowish fluid spraying out of several holes in the synthodrone's back. Ron struggled to his feet; never relinquishing his hold while Eric raised his fists again. This time, those fists just fell onto Ron, as if the drone no longer had the strength to hold them up. Kim stopped and stared at the sight that followed. 

Eric's handsome face hollowed in a strange parody of aging, while the homely, battered and bloodied Ron Stoppable struggled to his feet. While Ron surged, Eric withered, now unable to even lift his arms. A weak scream of despair wheezed from Eric, soon to be overwhelmed by Ron's roar. Now Ron was fully on his feet, holding the limp remains of the once handsome, seductive synthodrone. Ron turned towards her, his 'Ron in the clutch' expression firmly on his face. His face was battered and already starting to swell and a cut under one eye oozed blood down over half of his face. Ron focused on something behind her.

Doctor Drakken had run onto the roof in order to supervise his maintenance drones' replacing the isolation transformers. Before they could arrive, Possible had flipped Shego into the antenna, causing it to fall. The doctor had leapt out from under the falling tower and stood, stunned as he realized that his plan had failed. Then his synthodrone had fallen at Stoppable's hands and he found himself on the roof, alone, with both Possible and Stoppable, with hordes of police closing in. He turned and ran for the roof hatch.

Ron saw Drakken, the man who had caused the battering he had taken this night, fleeing. The man, who had played Kim and had tried to play him, the man who had caused all of this damage was trying to get away. The man who had ruined Bueno Nacho was attempting to escape. Ron heaved the empty sack, all that remained of Eric, at the fleeing doctor. The synthodrone's remains wrapped around Drakken's legs, sending him falling on his face. Kim stayed back, somehow sensing that this was Ron's moment of triumph.

Drakken rolled over to see Ron approaching him with a steady, deliberate stride. The doctor skittered backwards until his back struck a wall, halting his retreat. Ron stalked up right to him, loomed over him and glared down at the schemer.

"Say my name," Ron ordered.

" Wha..wha…don't hurt me, your name escapes me, I give up!" The doctor pleaded, hearing footsteps on the stairs.

"Say it!" Ron insisted, making an upward, yanking gesture with one hand.

Drakkens eyes bugged out and he reflexively dropped one hand to his posterior. "Uh…well…STOPPABLE. RON STOPPABLE!"

Ron stood up and crossed his arms in triumph even as a horde of police and other law enforcement officials swarmed out of the roof hatch and took Drakken into custody. Ron found it satisfying that the first time he heard Drakken say his real name was when he stood over the doctor's cowering, defeated form while in the ruins of the doctor's failed plans.

"Boo-Yah!"

He turned towards Kim, who was approaching him. He smiled at her even though he couldn't seem to catch his breath and he was starting to ache all over. Were clouds coming in? The world was starting to get dark. He suddenly coughed.

* * *

Warren was ready to kick himself; he had some great footage but he had forgotten to activate his parabolic microphone. He kept the camera focused on Team Possible and threw the switch. The sophisticated electronics automatically aligned the directional microphone on his point of focus.

* * *

Felix, Monique, Bonnie, and Mr. Barkin had been watching with at first horror, then pride and finally joy as Ron defeated Eric then humbled Drakken. Barkin shared a high five with Felix. Just as Ron turned towards Kim, they picked up an audio feed. 

"He's really beat up, but I've never seen him look so…satisfied." Bonnie mused out loud.

"That boy's badly injured," Barkin told the others. " Possible needs to get him medical attention fast."

"He does look awfully pale," Monique noted.

As they watched, Ron coughed and blood started to trickle out of his mouth. Kim snatched her Kimmunicator out of her belt and ran to him. Their horror grew as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed. Kim caught him around the chest and gently eased him to the roof.

"Ron, stay with me. RON!" Kim's pleading sounded clearly through the audio feed. Ron didn't move.

Kim keyed her Kimmunicator. "Wade, we need an ambulance, now! Ron is seriously hurt!"

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_Thanks again to everyone who has taken time to read this story. I hope you're enjoying it._

_A special thanks to all of you who have taken the time to review, or email me to wax nostalgic about your days as a wrestler. _

_And a major thank-you to Joe Stoppinghem for Beta reading and catching grammatical errors._


	49. The Price of Valor

Chapter 48: The Price of Valor

"Mr. Barkin, Ron's going to be okay isn't he?" Bonnie was almost hysterical. Of course, Felix and Monique were both highly emotional at that moment, as well.

The four kept watching the video feed. "I don't know, Rockwaller." The Vice-Principal replied. "I can tell that he has taken a horrible beating. Fortunately, Possible as well as several of the Police and FBI personnel, are first aid experts. The bad news is that he needs a Trauma Center and he's close to forty miles away from the nearest one."

They couldn't see Ron anymore. Kim, Police, and various agents had surrounded him. Monique did note Rufus, dragging some sort of device, scamper into the picture and disappear into the forest of legs surrounding his fallen human. After a time, a floating platform of some sort appeared and set down near the group. Several men unloaded a stretcher and disappeared into the group of people surrounding Ron. A few minutes later the stretcher, with Ron on it, was loaded onto the platform. Kim jumped on board and the platform took off. Whoever was operating the camera was able to record them flying for just a few seconds before they vanished in the distance.

"All we can do is hope and pray," Mr. Barkin told the three teens. "Whatever your beliefs, I think that Stoppable can use all of the good wishes he can get."

"But, he **is** going to be okay, isn't he?" Bonnie was even more distraught than she was before.

"Bonnie, why are you so shook up about this? You've never done anything but put Ron down." Felix's tone was gentle, even if the question was hard.

"**I-I** never realized what they go through. I just thought that it wasn't anything special. You know they just run around, pick something up and get out. I never thought…" She was almost as pale as Ron had been.

"Didn't you get the idea when Ron had his hip all messed up?" Monique was getting angry with the taller girl.

"I didn't realize it could be so bad! Oh, God! I had my friends bumping him and he was so… Oh God!" Bonnie sank down onto the nearest chair.

Felix rolled up to her. "Bonnie, they can't talk about everything they do, but I know that they very seldom get hurt badly. Yet it isn't unusual for them to come back badly bruised. You might have been of the opinion that this has just been some big attention grabbing scheme, so I hope that what you've just seen changes your mind."

Bonnie nodded and in a worried voice said. "I just hope he'll be okay."

* * *

He was lying down, staring at the night sky. Men wearing uniforms surrounded him, looking down at him but foremost, closest to him were a pair of green eyes surrounded by a red halo. He tried to reach up, to touch that face that held the eyes, but his arms felt so very heavy. Then everything went dark.

Time passed, he had no idea how much. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at the night sky again. Whatever he was lying on had a slight vibration and the wind whistled by him. He had a vague sense that he was moving rapidly but couldn't be sure. But right in front of him, right in his face, were those green eyes surrounded by the red halo. Those eyes, he now noticed, wept. This troubled him for some reason but before he could wonder why, everything went dark again.

He opened his eyes to a very bright light. Time passed while he looked at the light and he eventually discovered that masked people surrounded him. One of them noticed that he was awake and leaned down close to him. These eyes were blue, but they reminded him of the green eyes. A familiar voice said some words that he couldn't understand but they calmed him anyway. He closed his eyes and let the comforting darkness engulf him again.

Still more immeasurable time passed. He opened his eyes again to dim light and quiet noises. As he became more aware of his surroundings, he realized that he was lying on a soft surface and that a warm sheet was drawn up to his chest. His head still felt heavy, but he could move it with some difficulty. He looked down and noted tubes protruding from his arms. He wanted to study them, but the green eyes distracted him again.

The face with the green eyes and red halo floated into view above him and again, tears flowed from the eyes. This bothered him again, so he tried to speak but something was in his throat, preventing speech. He lifted an arm, even though it was much heavier than he remembered, and clumsily placed his hand on the side of that precious face. A small, yet strong hand grasped his and pressed it to the cheek. With great difficulty, he moved his thumb and wiped the offending tears away from the nearest eye. For some reason, the tears began to flow even faster. He wondered why for a short time, then the darkness returned. Time passed again.

Ron Stoppable woke up and looked around him. He was clearly in an ICU bed of some sort. A bank of monitoring equipment sat to his left, with wires and tubes running under his covers. He managed to keep from guessing where some of them must be connected. He wasn't in pain so much as everything felt numb. For some reason, he felt strangely calm. Further thought was halted when KP's face swept into view above his own. Her face was smudged with dirt, streaked with tear tracks and etched with fatigue. Her hair was wild and unkempt. _She's so beautiful_, Ron thought.

Again, her eyes shed those offensive tears, so he tried to ask her why she was crying. Something was in his throat. He experienced a moment of panic, or as close as he could come to panic within this overriding calm.

"Ron," KP's voice was a welcome sound, even quivering like it was. "You have a breathing tube, so you can't talk. Do you understand?"

Ron's mind wasn't working very quickly, so he tried to say that he understood that he couldn't speak. After this attempt failed, he lifted his right hand and gave a 'thumb's up' to her. She quickly caught his hand in both of hers.

"Ron, I was so worried, we were so worried! It looks like you'll be fine."

Ron frowned and worked to pull his hand free. Kim released it and Ron tapped his left wrist with his index finger while looking at her.

"What time is it? Kim asked.

Ron shook his head, pointed to his face, closed his eyes and made a circular motion on the back of his wrist with his finger. He opened his eyes to see Kim looking perplexed for a minute.

"Oh! How long have you been out?" Ron nodded. "It's still early Sunday morning. You've been fading in and out for several hours."

Ron nodded again then pointed at her. "What about me?" She asked. Ron remembered the cut he had taken under his eye, so he touched the bandage then pointed back to her. She thought a moment. "Oh, how badly am I hurt?" Ron nodded. "A few scrapes and bruises, no big." Then those cursed tears started to flow again. "Nothing like what they did to you!" Ron was uncomfortable with her weeping but before he could do anything…

Two more people entered his field of vision and one of them introduced himself. "Mr. Stoppable, good to see you are awake. I'm Doctor Munson. Your condition has improved to the point that we can remove the breathing tube. Ready?" Ron nodded. "Now, when I tell you, I want you to try to cough, do you understand?" Another nod. "Okay, cough."

Ron didn't enjoy the feel of the tube coming out but it was a relief to have it removed. A nurse squirted a little water into his mouth. He swirled the water around and swallowed the tiny bit that remained.

"Okay, Mr. Stoppable, I'm going to ask you a few questions," Dr. Munson continued. "I don't want you to be upset if you can't answer them. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Ron rasped.

"First, what day is today?"

"Saturday, no, Sunday morning." He said in a whisper, it was difficult to talk.

"Very good, Mr. Stoppable. Do you know where you are?"

Ron thought a moment. "I don't know for sure," he took another breath and tried to rally is muddled thoughts. "Middleton?"

"Not a bad guess," the doctor observed. "Do you know today's date?"

Ron automatically looked at his left wrist, which didn't have his wristwatch. "Um… I don't know, but I know that it's late April."

"Not bad, I always need to look at a calendar to tell the exact date. Can you recall how you were injured?"

"I tangled with a synthodrone…it whipped me good."

"A synthodrone?" The doctor looked very confused.

"Doctor," Kim cut in. "There are such things. The only thing that Ron has wrong is thinking that **it** whipped **him**. He was standing at the end of it all, the drone wasn't."

"Very well, Mr. Stoppable." The Doctor continued. "You don't seem to have any memory loss. This is a very good sign. Now, is there anything that you want to know?"

"Oscar and Cindy?" Ron asked Kim in a weak voice.

"They're just fine. The State Patrol picked them up a couple of hours after we left Bueno Nacho. The Police and the FBI held them for a while but they've already been released and they're both back home."

Ron nodded, "My parents?"

"Your folks are fine and I've updated them as to your condition. I'll email them and tell them that you're awake and aware. Telephone communication out of town isn't very reliable. They won't be back for a day or two, at least. Drakken's latest scheme really messed up the Air Traffic Control System, so all commercial flights have been grounded for a few days. They're trying to rent a car but demand is pretty high right now."

"How about your 'rents, and the tweebs?" Ron's weakening voice let everyone know he was tiring.

" Everyone's fine. Mom finally got to go home late last night. The casualties were pretty heavy but nowhere near as bad as they could have been. Dad's back home but he's going to be spending a lot of time in front of a lot of investigative committees. The tweebs are back home, as well and they're taking care of Rufus." Kim smiled. "They're already building small aircraft and Rufus loves to pilot them."

"Is Monique going to kill me?" Ron whispered, with a worried grin.

Kim's smile brightened. "She says that saving the world from a mad tyrant is just barely a good enough excuse to stand her up. She says that you still owe her a date but you have to be fully healed up first." Kim's smile faded. "I guess somebody filmed the fight on the roof, Monique and some other kids saw the beating you-"

"That's enough conversation for tonight." Dr. Munson interrupted. "Ron, I don't want you to think about your injuries. I **will** say that you will make a full recovery but you have some hard work ahead of you. Kim, there's a staff vehicle and driver waiting for you in the sublevel. The main entrance has a phalanx of reporters and cameramen right now, so we're going to sneak you home so you can get some rest. Ron, that's your job right now, as well. I want you to get some sleep."

Kim grasped his hand again. "Okay, Ron. I'll see you later. She darted in and kissed his forehead, then left the room. Ron was out within minutes of her exit.

He dreamed about green eyes.

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A/N 

_Again, my thanks to all of you who have been reading my story, I hope you've been enjoying the little trip I've taken you on._

_A bigger thanks to everyone who has either reviewed, or emailed me with suggestions. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so suggestions, comments, and corrections are always welcome._

_Finally, a major thank-you to Joe Stoppinghem for Beta reading and smoothing over my rough writing. _

_Catch you all at the next update._

_daccu65._


	50. Overdue Conversation

Chapter 49: Overdue Conversation

Ron didn't know how long he slept. He looked around and realized that he was still in ICU, but most of the wires were no longer running under his blankets. He also realized that Kim was sitting by his bed.

Weren't you supposed to get some sleep?" He asked. He was still strangely calm about everything.

"I did," she smiled at him. "I had a good eight hours. It's now Sunday evening and you've been down a good ten hours, sleepyhead."

"Have you heard from any of our friends, or my 'rents?"

"Yeah, Oscar and Cindy have both been grounded for a week." Kim replied with a slightly worried expression. "Apparently their 'rents didn't consider dodging killer robots and brawling with hired thugs to be normal prom activity." Kim shook her head at the danger their friends had placed themselves in.

"Not for most teens, I guess, how about Monique and Felix?"

"Monique says to tell you that you owe her dinner, a movie, and dancing when you get on your feet. She said something about 'date activity compounded with interest.' Felix is fine; he pirated a TV reporter's signal of the fight. He recorded it and he'll show it to you once you recover. Barkin saw it and says you showed some pretty good moves."

Ron smiled. "Anything new on my 'rents?"

"They managed to rent a car and they should be in sometime tomorrow afternoon. My mom talked to them, 'rent to 'rent, so they're a lot calmer than they were before." She grew more serious. "Mom's had a full account of your injuries but she won't discuss them with me until your 'rents get here. She'll only say that you'll make a full recovery but it will take some time and effort."

Ron matched her serious expression. "That's all anybody will tell me, as well. What's the sitch with Drakken and Shego?"

Kim grew more businesslike. "Both of them are in some secret holding facility. I don't know for sure, but some of the so called experts on the morning shows have said that Drakken could be facing war crimes trials and the death penalty."

"I take it security's tight on everyone involved?"

"Oh, yeah. That includes you. Only your 'rents, selected medical staff, and I are allowed in this room right now. There's a couple of very large guards outside."

Ron shook his head. "Well, I guess you had a Junior Prom to remember."

Kim couldn't hold in a snort. "That's an understatement, but what do you mean by **you**, why not **we**?"

"I didn't really attend, did I? Showing up for a few minutes in mission gear doesn't qualify as attendance in my book."

Kim chuckled again. "Yeah, but at least you had a **real** date lined up." Her smile vanished. "Not like me. I fell for a fake, when you figured out your fake." She hesitated a moment or two and said "Ron, if you had Wade scope Dessie, why didn't you have him scope Eric when you became suspicious?"

Ron set himself for what was coming. He supposed that he must be under the influence of some strong painkillers and that these were making him calm. It was about time to air it out.

"Kim, I'm really surprised that I have to tell you. It goes back to the Spirit Dance."

"The Spirit Dance?" Kim was confused. "I was really crushing on Josh at the time. What happened?"

"Don't you remember? The supply closet?"

Kim shook her head.

"Before the dance?" Ron prompted.

"Oh, we were talking and Josh showed up and I…" Kim's face dropped. "I kicked the door shut in your face. That was a ferociously wrong move on my part." Kim thought for a minute or two. "I don't recall seeing you at the dance that night…In fact, I don't recall seeing you that weekend. OH! Did what I did bother you so much that you didn't show? I'm so sorry!"

"Kim, I didn't show at the dance because my feelings were hurt," Ron explained. In his calm state he found that he wasn't capable of being angry, just a little irritated at the memory. "I didn't show because I was locked in the supply closet."

Kim's hand came up to her mouth. "Locked in? Oh, Ron! When did you get out?"

"The weekend janitorial staff showed up the next morning to clean up the gym. One of them walked down the hall and heard me at about ten the next morning. You weren't exactly my favorite person for the rest of that weekend, so I kept away from you."

Kim looked mortified. "Ron! Why didn't you say something? "

"What was I going to say? 'Kim, locking me in the closet overnight wasn't nice?' No, Kim, I figured that you were telling me something without saying it, so I spent a couple hours in the closet working it out in my mind. I realized just what part I played in your life."

"But Ron!" Kim interjected, "it was an accident! I didn't know that the door had locked!"

"I realized," Ron continued as if Kim hadn't even spoken. His voice grew firmer as he continued. "That you would never, ever let me get between you and your boyfriend. I realized that you were willing to keep me as a friend, even when you had a boyfriend but that the boyfriend would have the priority for your time. You taught me that when the boyfriend showed up, you would always go to him. It didn't really matter how long I was locked in the closet, or even if the door didn't lock. The important thing was that when the boyfriend showed up, you pushed me out of the picture." Ron looked at her with a very serious expression. "That's why I didn't check into Eric's background until it was too late. If he had been what he appeared to be, a new hottie, you would have been mad at me for interfering."

Kim's eyes were very wide and her face was pale as Ron went on. "The Monday after you locked me in the closet, Barkin announced that I was going to go to Japan the next week. I was still upset about being locked in the closet overnight, so I was avoiding you as much as I could that week. Then Drakken hit you with that weird spray and tried to embarrass you out of existence."

"And I did an incredibly stupid thing and went out on a date anyway." Kim added.

"So I tracked down the flower that would save you." Ron picked the story back up. "And I did my best to sneak into your date without Josh even knowing I was there. I got the flower to you and everything was good again." Ron's expression dropped. "I was actually hoping for an elaborate thank you the next day, but all you could talk about was how great Josh was."

Kim flinched again, _how could I have just taken him for granted like that?_ "I take it you and Wade had to look into a lot of greenhouses before you finally found the right flower?"

Ron looked at her for a long moment. "There weren't any to be found in any greenhouse. The botanists don't know why they can't keep them alive more than a week, but they suspect that they can only survive where certain other plants and animals are present. I went to the Amazon Jungle to find one."

Kim was stunned_; he went to that length?_ " Ron, I'm sorry, I-I didn't know." _How could I have been so blind? _

"The day after **that**, I left for Japan." Ron continued, "and I can remember how I kept thinking about two things on that long flight over there. The first was that I was going to have to quit expecting you to do everything for me. When you shut me in the closet, I realized that I wasn't the center of your life and that I was probably going to become less and less important to you as time went on. I realized that if I was going to be anything at all, I was going to have to do it for myself."

Ron took a small sip of water, not noticing Kim's sad face and continued. "The second thing I thought about was how nice it would be if you were willing to take a risk just to be with me. I mean sure, we've risked our lives for each other when we were on missions but you risked your life just to go on a date with Josh! I kept thinking how wonderful it must be to be **that** special; so special that someone as amazing as Kim Possible would risk her life just to be with you. All things considered, I was feeling pretty low when the plane landed."

Ron couldn't help but smile when he continued. "Then Yori met me at the airport and took me to Yamanouchi." Ron's expression turned to one of painful humor. "I can't tell you what went on at that school but I will say that it was intense."

Kim rallied a little and managed a quivering smile. "I can just about imagine."

Ron smiled a little more, and then his expression grew serious again. "Yamanouchi was the second half of a real life-changing experience for me. When you locked me in the closet, I realized that I was going to have to stand on my own. Yamanouchi taught me that I **could** stand on my own. The Ron factor must have really come through for me, because in two weeks I wound up with both motive and opportunity to make something out of myself. Then came the trip back."

Ron looked at her again. "On the way back, I realized that what made me feel good about myself was helping you help people and I knew that I could do a better job of it. That's why I was determined to hone my Tai Sheng Pek Kwar, I wanted to be better at helping you. Sensei told you why I took up wrestling."

Kim nodded.

Ron dropped his eyes to his lap, not able to meet Kim's gaze for the next part. "After I got back, I realized that I had a crush on you. I had also realized that you're way out of my league in that way. I came to accept that we could never be more than friends and that if you would be my friend I could accept the fact that you were more interested dating other guys than hanging with me. I even managed to wind up with a girlfriend, so I didn't feel like a loser in that department anymore."

Ron's expression became very content and he continued. "After I healed up from the fight with Monty, I had the best couple of months of my life. I didn't have a girlfriend and you didn't have a boyfriend, so we could spend our time with each other. We were doing things that we both enjoyed, practicing kung fu and helping people. The missions were going well and I knew, I really knew, that I was stepping up and being a real help."

Ron's expression fell to sadness again. "Then you started to flirt with me. At first I didn't believe it but it became more and more obvious. That's when I did the stupidest thing that I could have done; I forgot everything I had learned and flirted right back. But I got lucky, you blew me off before we became a couple."

"Why was that lucky?" Kim interrupted.

Ron looked at her, his sad expression chilling her. "If we had become a couple and **then** you had dumped me, I-I don't think I could have gone back to being friends." Ron's face became anguished. "That's what you taught me with the closet, that's what I was able to tell Yori but I couldn't tell you. I love you, Kim, but you're a special person and I'm not! When a special boy shows up, I'm out of the loop. It was that way with Josh and it was the same way with Eric. You brushed me aside both times and I was able to go back to being your friend…barely." Kim flinched. "But if we had taken that step, if we had started dating and **then** you had dropped me for the special guy, I would have hated you." Ron's chin dropped to his chest and he refused to meet Kim's eyes. "I never want to hate you, Kim. I told you that no girlfriend is worth losing you. So I promise you, I'll never, **ever** let us take that step and go beyond friends."

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_A/N_

_This will be the last update for about a week. I need to write a few more chapters, and review them, before posting again. I hope you've been enjoying the story and I hope that the new chapters will be worth the wait. I __**will**__ update. _

_Thank-you all for reading my story. A special thank-you for those of you who have taken the time to review and/or email me with comments and suggestions. _

_And of course, I can't forget Joe Stoppinghem, who has taken the time and put in the effort to Beta read and point out my errors. Thanks Joe._

_Catch everyone at the next update._

_daccu65._


	51. Angst and Chocolate Ice Cream

Chapter 50: Angst and Chocolate Ice Cream

"So, he said that the two of you will never be more than friends." Monique observed. Kim nodded.

The two girls were seated in the Possibles' Kitchen, attacking a quart of chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream. Kim, being in a serious funk, was rather more aggressive in her attack than was her best female friend. Shortly after her discussion with Ron, the boy had drifted off again. Ron's battered, medicated body simply couldn't sustain a long bout of emotional conversation. Kim hadn't been so lucky. She had found a lavatory and shocked herself by crying harder than she had ever remembered.

She had made herself presentable and ducked out through a Boiler Room exit. (The staff had given her access so that she could avoid the growing swarm of reporters and cameramen hovering around the better known exits.) After catching a bus home, she had instituted the tried and true teenaged girl method of dealing with sorrow: a close friend and junk food. Once Monique had arrived, Kim had sobbed out an almost verbatim recount of her conversation with Ron, prompting Monique's question.

"Let me guess," Monique followed up. "The fact that your eyes are red and you're stuffing your face with chocolate ice cream means that you want to be more than friends with him?" Kim nodded again.

"Why?" Monique's question brought Kim up short.

"What?" Kim paused with a spoon halfway to her mouth.

"It's a simple question, girlfriend, why do you want to date him?"

Kim planted the spoonful of ice cream in her mouth and thought while chewing. "He's always been there for me. Look at everything we've gone through together! We're so close that I-I just can't think of my life without him in it."

Monique nodded. "Three reasons, girlfriend, and those three could be used to argue why you should stay just friends. So tell me, why do you want to start dating now?"

Kim thought some more. "Well, it just feels right…Okay, I realized that I love the guy! Are you happy?"

Monique favored Kim with a small smile. "Not completely happy, no. By the way, I caught some news just after you called me. They had some more live coverage at the hospital and I saw that Japanese girl, Yori, going in the door. I bet she was heading in to visit Ron."

Kim's spoon clattered into her bowl and her eyes snapped open. "You're kidding!" The redhead blurted out, jumping to her feet.

"Yes, I am," Monique confessed.

Kim stood confused for several seconds before returning to her seat. "I suppose you're about to tell me why you did that."

"Yup," Monique informed her, scooping up another spoonful. "I just gave you a tiny glimpse from Ron's point of view. Didn't he say that you brush him off when special guys show up?" Kim nodded. "Well, you just got an idea of what it's like when a special girl shows up too see Ron! Didn't much care for it, did you?"

Kim looked like she was ready to argue, but then dug up another spoonful of ice cream. "No, I didn't," she admitted.

Monique nodded. "Now think of this. Ron's never brushed you off to be with Yori or Sue, has he?"

Kim's shoulders slumped. "No," she admitted again.

Monique set her spoon down and looked her best bud right in the eye. "That's why this was a **tiny** look into Ron's mind. First of all, Ron knows that he doesn't have the great looks to catch your eye. He knows that you're a lot more attractive to boys than he is to girls **and** he knows that a hot guy will spin your head around. You've proven it to him."

Kim just nodded again and ate some more ice cream.

"And you're wondering why he doesn't want to go past being friends?" Monique shook her head. "Girl, you are so lucky that he didn't wash his hands of you after that closet incident, at least for a little while. If you had done that to me, we wouldn't have spoken for at least a month!"

"That was an accident!" Kim's voice was quivering again, but Monique knew she had to make her point.

"I agree with Ron on this one," she told Kim "The fact that he got locked in was the accident, and it was trivial. The important thing is that when Josh appeared, you risked twelve plus years of friendship and shoved him out of the picture without a second thought. **That** was no accident, was it?"

Kim's eyes misted up and she shook her head.

"So," Monique bored in. "Put yourself in Ron's place. He's admitted to being in love with you. He's honest enough to realize that if you two ever went beyond bff's, and if you were to dump him for another guy, he might not be able to go back to being friends. Now let's say you **do** start dating. What happens in September when we go back for Senior year and there's a new guy, who happens to be tall, tan, cute, built like Adonis and interested in you?"

"Monique!" Kim protested, "do you really think I'm that shallow? I'm not about to drop a boyfriend over someone I've just met!"

"You dropped your best friend of over twelve years." Monique countered. "Your track record in that department isn't very good with him right now."

Kim glared at Monique for several endless seconds before dropping her spoon into her bowl, bracing her elbows on the table, and dropping her face into her hands. "God, why does he put up with me?"

"That's easy," Monique answered. "He loves you, he said it himself. The question is, do **you** want to risk what you've got with him right now, to take it to the next level?"

"I guess I hadn't really thought it over." Kim admitted. "Back in the Electrical Room, and in his ICU Room, I was really close to…well…"

"Sealing the deal with some tonsil-hockey?" Monique asked. Kim nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you've admitted that you hadn't really thought about it much, you know what that means?"

Kim showed a rueful grin. "I'm in rebound?" Monique nodded. "For how long?" Kim asked.

"Until Ron's ready to do missions again **and** I've had my date with him," Monique declared.

"Oh, isn't that convenient," Kim grumbled.

" **A** date doesn't mean **dating**," Monique informed Kim. "He asked me out and I've taken him up on it. One more thing, since I've got to be heading home now, are you going to drop by and see him before school tomorrow?"

"I don't know, Monique," Kim murmured. "I don't know if I can face him after…that talk."

Monique placed her bowl in the sink. "You said yourself that you're one of the few people that security will let in to see him. I'm willing to bet that when he wakes up, he's going to be just as shook up about this as you are right now. I wonder how he's going to be feeling if he doesn't see a familiar face for the better part of a day?"

That brought Kim up short.

Monique looked at Kim with a very serious expression. "He poured his heart out to you tonight. If you don't visit him, how do you think he'll be feeling about you? For what it's worth, I've been pulling for you and him to get together since Christmas. But after you just dropped him over a conversation with Bonnie, then shut him out for the new guy…" Monique shook her head. "Anyway, girl, you've got a lot of thinking to do. Just remember, no working on him until after rebound"

With that Monique was out the door, leaving Kim with some serious thinking. Fortunately for Kim, Mrs. Dr. P returned home shortly after Monique left. The female Doctor Possible had just poured herself a cup of coffee and settled into the breakfast nook when Kim plopped the ice cream and an empty bowl in front of her. Dr. Anne Possible knew that this meant some serious talk with her daughter was about to commence.

"Mom," Kim began, looking down at her ice cream bowl and then up to her mother's eyes. "Am I shallow?" Her voice was very weak.

Dr. Possible thought that one over for a few minutes before answering. "That's not a question with a straight answer, Kimmie," she said. "You, like everyone else, have done some shallow and selfish things. I don't think that I could call you shallow because of it…" She paused, "what brings this up?"

Kim visibly composed herself and repeated her conversation with Ron for the second time that night. She then repeated her conversation with Monique. Mrs. Dr. P reached for a spoon and dug in.

"Before we say anything else," the elder of the Possible women informed her daughter. "I agree with Monique about you being in rebound. You have a lot of strong emotions running rampant right now, Kimmie, so this isn't a wise time to be modifying friendships. Stepping back, at least until Ronald is back on his feet, is a very good idea." She paused and gave her daughter a sad smile. "I've been pulling for you and Ronald to get together for over a year now. To be honest, I was very disappointed with you for dropping him like you did."

"Okay, mom, I can accept that, but …am I shallow and selfish?"

Anne Possible took a few moments to collect her thoughts before addressing her daughter. "Well, first of all, you do tend to base a lot of your opinions on appearances and you assume that everyone around you does the same. This is a rather shallow trait."

"Drakken was right about me?" Kim's eyes were very wide.

Dr. Possible shook her head. "Drew was correct with some items, but not all of them. You do have a few…habits…that can seem shallow. The most obvious one is your fixation with appearance and first impressions. You admitted yourself that you were ready to establish a…romantic relationship with Ronald before your conversation with Bonnie. Yet when Eric showed up, you jumped right in without a second thought. That **is** a very shallow action."

"Is there anything else?" Kim asked. She was clearly dreading the answer.

Anne Possible looked at her daughter. _This is as good a time for the truth as ever_. "You have some other…shallow…tendencies. Consider where Drew was correct. You **do** seek out public attention. Remember the choice you had to make between extracurricular activities when you were in Middle school?"

"I chose cheerleading over gymnastics." Kim recalled.

Anne nodded. "Despite the fact that gymnastics would have probably been a better fit with your kung fu than cheerleading. You chose cheerleading because it was more visible and more of your peers could see you participate." Anne looked her daughter up and down. "You also wear fashions that make it obvious to everyone that you're an attractive, athletic girl."

"So, I'm an attention hog?" Kim asked.

"I don't think that's the case, Kimmie. An attention hog just wants attention, and a lot of it. You want recognition and approval. In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with that, but couple it with your competitiveness and a clever man, like Drew, can take advantage of it."

"So I should quit competing and dress more modestly?" Kim asked with a puzzled look.

"I said nothing of the sort." Her mother corrected her. "Although I'm sure your father would agree with the last part." The two shared a smile. "No, Kimmie, you are what you are. There's no reason to make major changes, just accept the negative aspects of your character and compensate for them."

Kim flashed a pained smile. "When the hottie shows up, count to ten?"

Anne returned her daughter's smile. "Good advice." Anne's expression grew contemplative. "This is one of the areas where Ronald has an advantage over you."

"How is that?" Kim looked confused.

"Your flaws, or weaknesses." Anne explained. "Ronald's flaws are very obvious, he's lazy, insecure and unmotivated. Because they are so obvious he's been forced to deal with them. You even said yourself that he had really stepped up over the course of this school year." Kim nodded in agreement. "Your weaknesses are more subtle. You're a little **too** proud, a little **too** competitive, a little **too** concerned with your image and a little **too** taken in by appearance and first impressions. Because these flaws aren't very obvious, you haven't been burned by them before, or at least not badly." The elder Possible woman smiled at her daughter. "Bonnie seems to know them; that's why she's been able to get to you so easily."

Kim's eyes suddenly flew open. "That's why Drakken's scheme didn't work on Ron! Drakken didn't actually study Ron; he just hit Ron with a female version of his scheme for me. Ron didn't want a 'statement' girl to go to the prom with him; he just wanted someone he was comfortable with. He didn't care about the other guys' envying him. As long as he and his date enjoyed themselves, he was content!" Kim's expression fell again and she looked down at the floor. "So when the hottie showed up and started to hit on him, he was able to come back to his senses and quit chasing her, unlike me."

Ann looked at her daughter again. It wasn't going to be easy, but it was necessary. She took another deep breath and continued. "There's another half to the 'chase the hottie and ignore Ronald' issue, you know."

Kim looked up, puzzled for a moment, and then dropped her face in her hands. "I know, ignoring Ron. How could I have been so blind about him? How could I have taken him for granted so badly?" Teardrops started to fall again.

"It's partially Ronald's fault, Kimmie." Her mother explained.

Kim's face snapped back up. "What?"

Anne shook her head and smiled, sadly. "Part of the problem is that Ronald has been **such** a good friend. The term 'low maintenance' doesn't do him justice. You've always been able to be yourself around him. He's always supported you, completely, without any effort on your part. That sort of thing can make you take him for granted."

Kim still looked confused, so Anne continued. "Take that incident when you locked him in the closet. Because it was Ronald, you didn't even have to apologize; he just sulked for a little while then went right back to being your friend. If he had confronted you with it, and you had been forced to apologize to him, you might have appreciated his friendship more after putting in effort to maintain it."

Kim looked up with a self-mocking grin. "Sort of like my laundry? I don't appreciate it being clean because I never have to wash it?"

Anne's smile was genuine. "Exactly like that."

Kim grew serious. "So what do I do about Ron? I won't bring up the dating issue with him, but I still want him to know that I care about him. I still want to help him."

Anne was truly pleased with her daughter. "Be his friend! Visit him, talk to him. Bring his school assignments to him and take his homework to his teachers for him. Sneak junk-food into the hospital for him." Anne paused and looked side to side, in a conspiratorial manor, "don't tell anybody I suggested that last one."

Kim smiled, completely happy for the first time that evening. _I can do that. I can be his friend. And after we get him back on his feet, who knows?_

_

* * *

A/N_

Thanks for waiting. Thanks again to Joe Stoppinghem for Beta reading.

daccu65 


	52. A Friend in Deed

Chapter 51: A Friend in Deed

Kim stepped off of the elevator and walked down the hallway to Ron's hospital room. He had been moved from ICU to a standard, private room earlier that afternoon. She had visited him that morning before school, and again over her lunch break, when she had brought the remainder of his textbooks. She now had the unpleasant task of bringing all of his Monday assignments. She also had a more agreeable task to perform.

She smiled as she handed her backpack to one of the guards outside the room. The guard checked the contents, sharing a grin with the teen. Kim felt content; last night she had decided to listen to both Monique and her mother. She would help Ron through his recovery. After he was back at full capacity, they would deal with other issues. The guard returned her backpack and she entered the room to see…

"Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable, you made it back!" She greeted her best friend's parents. The two adults turned to greet her, allowing her to see Ron.

Ron was looking better. Of course, the fact that he wasn't in ICU was an improvement in and of itself. He was a little more alert than he had been on her two previous visits this day. Of course, one visit had been before eight and the other visit had been while he had a tray of food in front of him, so his lack of outside focus could be explained in both instances.

"Hey KP," his voice still wasn't strong, but it wasn't the raspy whisper of last night. "It looks like I've got a stay of execution."

Kim was confused and his parents were giggling.

"Our kitchen has been declared a crime scene," he explained. "That means my parents can't go in and see the mess I left."

Kim thought for a moment. "Oh, the synthodrone! You said something about it looking like a giant sneezed in the kitchen."

"Ronald!" His mother admonished him. "That's disgusting! Haven't I raised you to mind your manners?"

"Sorry mom." Ron's voice was contrite, but his expression wasn't.

Ron's father shook his head with a grin. "Fortunately, the police will allow us access to the rest of the house. We will be heading home in a little while to grab some clothing and check into a hotel. It's just too awkward to try to live in a house with police and federal agents coming and going."

"And it means that they can't see the mess, so I don't get punished for it while still in the hospital." Ron pointed out. "But with my luck, I'll get released on the same day the investigation is completed, so I'll still have to clean up the mess."

"Think of it as physical therapy," his mother insisted, then tears started to flow. "I-I just can't believe that we came so close to losing you!" Her husband put an arm around her and Ron reached out and took her hand. Kim could see by her face that this wasn't her first crying fit over the incident.

"You've raised a tough boy, Jean." Mrs. Dr. P's voice sounded from the door. The Stoppables and Kim turned to see Mrs. Dr. P entering the room, along with Dr. Munson. "Now that you're here, we can discuss Ronald's injuries," she continued. "But before we do, I'm informing you that you'll be staying with us until the various law enforcement agencies are done with your home."

"We couldn't impose on you like that!" Mrs. Stoppable insisted.

"It isn't an imposition," the redheaded doctor insisted. "We love company. Getting back to Ron, Dr. Munson here is his primary caregiver. Do either of you have any problems with Kim or myself being present for this discussion?"

"None whatsoever," Mr. Stoppable replied. His wife agreed with him.

"Well then," Dr. Munson began. "Why don't we just start at the top and work our way down? First of all, you have a mild concussion, probably from where that…what do you call it…synthodrone… hit you. The cut under your eye took a few stitches and I'm afraid it's going to scar."

"That's fine doctor, I wasn't that much of a beauty to begin with." Ron offered.

"Ron!" Kim admonished him.

"You think I was?" Ron tilted his head slightly. Kim blushed and the adults snickered at her.

The doctor smiled, "working down, you have four broken ribs, which we set using orthoscopic methods last night. Most of the rest of your ribs are cracked and your left lung is partially collapsed."

"Doctor," Ron asked. "When you say my left lung is partially collapsed, is that left as in **my** left or left as in your left when you're looking at me?"

"**Your** left," the doctor clarified, while Ron's 'rents and Kim shook their heads. "You also have a cut along the **your** left side of your chest. We pulled some debris out of the wound before stitching it up, so we're going to be keeping a close eye on it for infections." The doctor looked up from his chart and asked Ron. "How did you manage to get concrete and metal fragments in that wound?"

"I was fighting someone, er, something, on a collapsed antenna." Ron replied.

The doctor shook his head, "The things young people do these days! While we are on the subject of your torso, you have some internal injuries, but you're young enough and they appear to be minor enough to heal without surgery. Onward and downward, your thigh and calf wounds are stitched up and will be painful and stiff, but they won't keep you from walking."

"I won't bore everyone with the number of major bruises, contusions, and minor cuts." The doctor concluded. "The bottom line is that you appear to be on the mend. We need to observe you to make sure that none of your internal injuries are more serious than we think. I'm hopeful that we will have you home by the end of this week and you can quit warning the nurses about the conspiracy."

"Conspiracy?" Kim gave Ron a questioning look.

"I figured it out before you brought my textbooks over lunch." Ron explained. "It's weekday daytime television programming. It's so bad that it has to be a conspiracy between the government and the networks to encourage everyone to get a job!"

"Hey, I like the soaps!" Kim protested while the adults chuckled at Ron.

"Okay, Okay," Ron brushed off her complaint. "I'm glad you brought the books, I was really starting to go nuts before I had something to keep my mind occupied."

"No big," Kim replied. "I'll help out until you're on your feet."

"Uh, Doctor Munson?" Ron asked. "Speaking of being on my feet, when could I give it a try? The nursing staff has been ready to tie me up every time I so much as looked at the floor."

"They were following their instructions, Mr. Stoppable, but this would be an excellent time to try a few steps." The doctor replied. "Mrs. Stoppable, I am well aware of your issues, so you might not want to watch. Mr. Stoppable, could you accompany your wife to the hallway?" Ron's parents stepped out of the room. "Now, Miss Possible," the doctor continued. "Would you be so kind to support your friend, while I observe?"

Kim nodded while Ron swung his legs off of the bed, grimacing at the pain the motion applied to his abused torso. Kim put his right arm over her shoulders and Ron slid off the bed and onto his feet. Kim wrapped her arm around Ron's body, causing the boy to flinch in pain, then dropped her arm down to his hip. Ron shifted more and more of his weight from Kim's shoulders and onto his own legs until Kim was simply steadying him. With that, Ron walked a few steps with Kim at his side.

"You weren't joking about the pain in the leg, doctor." Ron commented. "But the ribs are really tender right now."

"I've cut back on your pain medication to get a better feel for your status." The doctor explained. "We don't want you to overdo this."

"Okay, mind if I try a few steps on my own?" Ron asked. When nobody objected Kim slipped, reluctantly, out from under Ron's arm. She kept a light hold on the back of his gown as he walked around his bed. He was slow, but able to move.

"Very good, Mr. Stoppable." The doctor commented.

"One more thing," Ron informed him. He then shuffled into the bathroom. He hated using the bedpan.

A few minutes later, Ron was settled back into his bed and his parents were allowed to return. Dr. Munson had informed Ron that if there were no complications, he would be allowed to take a shower the next day. Everyone chatted a little bit, even though Kim and Ron wouldn't talk very much about the mission that caused Ron's injuries. They were sure that a trial was coming up and they didn't want to go blabbing too much. After a few minutes, Ron's parents left to move into the Possibles' guestroom while the two doctors left to attend to their duties. Kim and Ron broke out their schoolbooks.

"Uh, Kim?" Ron asked, nervously.

"Yes, Ron?" Kim replied.

"About what I said last night," Ron continued. "Some of what I said might not have come out quite right and I'm sorry if…"

"Ron," Kim interrupted. "You said some things that really, **really** needed to be said. Let's not worry about them right now. Let's worry about keeping you caught up in your classes and getting you back on your feet. We can deal with our issues then, okay?"

Ron nodded, "thanks, KP."

Kim paused, then looked sternly into his eyes. "Only one thing, Ron. If I ever, **ever** pull a stunt like I did with that closet, or blow you off like I did two weeks ago, I want you in my face snarling like a rabid Doberman, do you understand me?"

Ron nodded again.

"Good, " She replied with a kindhearted smile. "Now lets get you caught up with your schoolwork. Once you get caught up, I've got about fifty get-well cards that the other students wanted me to give you."

With that, the two teens cracked open the books and went to work. While Ron hadn't had his official assignments earlier, he had been studying ahead. (He wasn't kidding about how much he loathed soap operas.) So it wasn't a great deal of effort for him to make up for his missed day. Kim had just finished her own assignments when she looked up to see that Ron had dozed off with a get well card propped up in his limp hand. Smiling at him, she gathered her own schoolwork, as well as his completed assignments. Then she stacked his textbooks and cards neatly on his table. She sat there for a few minutes, very aware that she herself had had a very strenuous weekend followed by very little sleep.

She remembered the last time she had watched him sleep, in the back of a cold service van returning to Middleton. She remembered wondering, at the time, just what role he fit in her life and found herself doing it again. They were friends, sure, but could, **should** something more come out of this? He had already said that it wouldn't, but did that have to be the case? Perhaps both Monique and her mother were correct; events were too recent and emotions were too strong to deal with **that** issue right now.

She sat back down and thought some more. She knew that she had a habit of taking decisive action whenever events seemed to be out of her control. Usually she made good choices but she had occasionally done something foolish. Some of those actions had damaged her relationship with Ron. Then again, was she only considering pursuing a romantic involvement because he had said they wouldn't have one? She shook her head at that thought. Her mother and Monique were **definitely** correct; she needed to let her emotions settle down before considering this too much.

Her eyelids growing heavier, she rested her head on his mattress, next to his pillow. She repeated her promise to herself from last night; she would be his friend and help him recover. She would stick by him through the interviews and debriefings that were sure to be coming up in the next few weeks and months. After that, she would sit down with him and discuss **them**. She smiled as she drifted off.

Kim opened her eyes to see a strange scene. She stood on a hill, looking over an open plain. Behind her, on the very top of the hill, stood a wooden tower. Below her sat a small town, which looked something like an 1890's era frontier town. Perhaps two dozen homes surrounded a much larger structure. This structure's roof was partially removed, exposing damaged rafters and what appeared to be a hot air balloon inside. A canal ran from a river in the near distance, to the large structure.

She looked closer and realized that almost all of the buildings were damaged in some way and the canal's levees were leaking at several points. The hot air balloon in the large building had a tear, and was only about half inflated. She then realized that small men were repairing the damage to the structures, canal, and the balloon.

The work was well organized. A small army of the men pushed wheelbarrows between the work sites on the canal and a quarry at the base of her hill. In an endless cycle, the men hauled the wheelbarrows to the quarry, where a gang of men filled them with gravel, then to the canal breaches, where another gang of men unloaded them. After a breach was filled with gravel, another crew of wheelbarrow handlers delivered soil from another quarry, which the crews at the breach site used to cover the gravel. The buildings and balloon were being repaired much the same way; crews hauled materials to the sites where other workers performed repairs. She studied the men closest to her and found that they looked vaguely like Ron.

"This is a very strange dream," Kim said out loud.

"It is not exactly a dream, Miss Possible." A voice spoke from behind her. Kim turned around, for some reason not alarmed, and found herself facing Master Sensei.

"**You** are indeed dreaming, Miss Possible, and you can wake up at any time." The old man informed her. "I would ask you not to do so at this time, as I wish to speak with you."

Kim **knew** that if she wanted to, she could wake up and find herself leaning against Ron's bed. She decided to speak to the old man.

"Where are we?" She asked him.

"Physically, you are next to Stoppable-san in his hospital room and I am in Japan. Our awareness, however, is currently in a portion of Stoppable-san's mind."

Kim's eyes, or at least her dream-self's eyes, flew wide. "We're in Ron's mind?"

Sensei favored Kim with a calming smile. "Is this so hard to believe, Miss Possible? Did the two of you not share a dream in a museum? The two of you are highly…attuned to each other. Stoppable-san is not actually asleep; he is in a deep, meditative state. In such a state he can communicate with me. As such his mind serves as a…common ground for us to speak."

Kim shook her head in wonder. "If this isn't a dream, why are we seeing these strange things?" She gestured towards the town and the workers.

"You see before you another aspect of Stoppable-san's mastery of both Tai Sheng Pek Kwar and the Mystical Monkey Power. He is using a combination of both to accelerate his healing. What you see is the analogy he has chosen to represent these efforts."

Kim was confused for a moment, and then it seemed that a light came on in her mind. "So the damage to the buildings represents the damage to his organs?" Sensei acknowledged with a grin. "The holes in the levees must be where he is still bleeding, the deflated balloon must be his collapsed lung, and the damaged rafters must represent his injured ribs!"

"Correct again, Miss Possible." The old man agreed. "The workmen you see are representations of Stoppable-san's cells healing his body. Had you been here before he accelerated his healing, you would have seen each of the workmen attempting to repair this damage on his own. Take the levees, for example. Earlier, each worker would go to the quarry, load up a wheelbarrow with gravel, then haul it to the nearest breach. Stoppable-san has organized his body's healing effort and made it much more efficient."

Kim stared in wonder, then frowned. "Where is Ron?" She asked.

Sensei gestured to the tower on top of the hill. At the top, Kim could now see Ron. As she watched, he picked up a megaphone and shouted something she could hear but not understand. Down on the levee, the workmen who had just fixed a breach moved to another breach. Kim also noticed that the tower was damaged and that another crew was repairing it.

"The tower must represent Ron's skull and the damage must represent his concussion!" She blurted out.

"Correct again, Miss Possible. This analogy isn't perfect but it serves Stoppable-san's purpose. Stoppable-san is busy healing himself, so he will not be able to join us in our conversation."

Kim looked at the old man. "Then may I ask what is the purpose of this conversation, Master Sensei?" Kim decided that manners were in order.

"I wish to discuss three items with you, Miss Possible. The first deals with what you see taking place around you." Sensei gestured towards the scene before them. "Stoppable-san is using a great deal of energy to heal himself and he does not have much in the way of reserves."

"Oh, you mean that he doesn't have much fat on his body to burn up?" Kim asked.

"I see that you understand, Miss Possible." The old man was clearly pleased. "Stoppable-san will be able to continue this accelerated healing, in secret, if you can secretly bring him additional food."

"I should be able to sneak him protein and energy bars easily enough." Kim informed him. "I don't even have to be sneaky, nobody will question if I say that Ron's hungry."

Sensei smiled at that. "That will be acceptable, Miss Possible. While Stoppable-san shall not heal at a **miraculous** rate, he will heal at roughly three times the rate without these techniques. While the medical staff may be surprised, they shouldn't become too curious. However, if he were to demand three helpings for each meal, suspicions may add up." The old man paused and became more somber. "The second item, Miss Possible, deals with Montgomery Fisk."

Kim grew very alert. "What about Monkey Fist?"

"We at the Yamanouchi School try to monitor his movements," Sensei explained. "I do not deem it appropriate to tell you why at this time. However, shortly after you and Stoppable-san defeated Doctor Drakken, Lord Fisk evaded our watchers and we have been unable to relocate him. Various press releases have reported that Stoppable-san is seriously injured but expected to make a complete recovery. Fisk may have heard these reports and be placing himself in position to attack Stoppable-san when he leaves here. While he is safely under guard in this hospital, Fisk may attempt to attack Stoppable-san at home, school, or other locations after he is released."

"So you want me to guard Ron? You don't even have to ask." Kim informed the elder.

Sensei smiled. "Asking either of you to guard the other is indeed unnecessary, Miss Possible. However, I needed to warn you that Fisk may appear at any time. Stoppable-san must be protected until he is capable of defending himself again."

Kim's expression grew troubled. "Sir, I can't be with him 24/7. I mean, there are going to be times when he's at his home and I'm at mine. Also, we don't share all of our classes at school."

"It is most honorable of you to admit this to me, Miss Possible. I was already aware of these limitations and I am taking steps to assure Stoppable-san's constant protection. I trust that I was not in error when assuming that you would want to be a major component in his defense?

"Not at all, sir."

Sensei's expression grew sad, almost troubled. "The third item, Miss Possible, are the unresolved feelings between yourself and Stoppable-san."

Kim became annoyed. "Sir, for all of your age and wisdom, I believe that these issues are between Ron and myself."

"This may be true, Miss Possible, but Stoppable-san's mastery of the Mystical Monkey Power is strongly affected by his emotional balance. The issue between the two of you affects him deeply and as his teacher, it is my responsibility to guide him in dealing with it. As you are the focal point for these emotions, I must also attempt to advise you."

"So what are you going to advise me to do, to listen to my heart or some such?" Kim asked bitterly.

Sensei snorted in disgust. It was the first time that Kim had ever seen him be anything other than polite.

"Of course not, Miss Possible!" The elder explained. "I advise you to listen to your brain! Hasn't listening to your heart, acting through your emotions, placed you where you are at this time? I may be old but I am not **that** old. It's obvious that you have feelings for Stoppable-san which go beyond friendship. Yet you had acted upon your emotions when you distanced yourself from him, did you not?"

Kim was able to keep her annoyed look on her face for only a few seconds before her tears started again. "Yes, and I did it more than once." She looked at Sensei again before asking. "Do you suggest that I, that everyone, live a life without emotion? No passion, no joy, no love?"

Sensei smiled gently at the young woman. "Now you read too much into my words, Miss Possible. I did not say to remove emotion from your life, I said to make your decisions based upon reason. Live your life like building a house. Use reason and logic to build the structure then fill it with joy and love."

Kim managed a pained smile. "I think I caught that advice a little too late. Ron's already told me that he will never allow us to be more than friends."

"Would that truly be a tragedy, Miss Possible? Do you not find your friendship with Stoppable-san fulfilling?"

She looked at him, troubled. "So I shouldn't pursue anything beyond friendship with Ron?"

"The future is never certain," he continued. "The two of you may remain friends, you may part ways or you may enter a deeper relationship." Then the old man looked closely at her. "Yet I will say this to you, Miss Possible, his feelings for you are very strong. Any estrangement from you will be painful to him, and I suspect painful to you as well. I strongly urge the two of you to come to terms with your situation as soon as possible."

"We've already agreed to this sir." Kim informed the elder. "My family and friends have suggested that we do so after Ron has recovered, so that these emotions have had a chance to settle."

"Good advice, Miss Possible." The old man then took on a more formal bearing. "My messages to you are complete, with one exception. Stoppable-san will receive an invitation to visit the Yamanouchi School again, over the summer, as part of a cultural learning program. If you wish, you will receive the same invitation."

Kim thought for a moment, then with a smile she replied. "Yes, I would like to visit the place where he learned so much about himself."

The old man favored her with a small, polite bow. "And perhaps you will learn something about yourself, as well. Very well, Miss Possible, I will see you there." The old man paused. "Now would be a very good time for you to wake up."

Kim suddenly found sitting in the hospital room, with her head resting on the bed next to Ron's pillow. The mattress was damp, she had cried in her sleep. She sat up and looked at Ron for what seemed to be a long time, feeling a mixture of hope, sadness, and irritation. Finally, she got up to leave. She looked around and, seeing nobody watching her, leaned down, kissed Ron's cheek and left for home.

* * *

_Again, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for Beta reading. _

_It may be a few days before I can update again, I haven't abandoned the story, I just have other issue to deal with._

_Thanks for reading, catch you at the next update._

_daccu65_


	53. Visitors

Chapter 52: Visitors

On Wednesday Dr. Munson declared that, barring a major relapse, Ron would be ready to be discharged Friday morning, in time to attend school that day. The doctor was often seen shaking his head, amazed at the speed Ron was healing and saying that 'it must be good to be young.' In fact, Ron had started taking short walks up and down his corridor on Tuesday. This had prompted him to ask his parents to bring him a sweat suit. While hospital gowns couldn't fall down like a pair of pants, Ron had discovered that his tendency towards wardrobe malfunctions included finding inopportune updrafts. These, when wearing a hospital gown, proved to be every bit as embarrassing as one of his pants incidents.

Although Ron was very happy to get out of the hospital, the idea of not getting out of a complete week of school was disappointing. He was able to swallow this disappointment on Thursday, when the various government agencies tasked with his security decided to lower his visitor restrictions. He would be allowed two visitors at a time other than his 'rents and Kim. So, after Kim dropped off his assignments and notes (plenty of students had offered to make copies of their class notes for him), he polished off some protein bars then he and Kim finished their assignments. Now Ron was able to see his friends.

Of course, his parents were the first to show up. Kim was confused at first, since Ron was supposed to be allowed only two visitors at a time and both of his parents had shown up, along with her. When one of the guards informed her that Global Justice didn't include her in the visitor's count she was offended. When that same guard told her that they considered her more a guardian than a visitor, she didn't know if she should be flattered or offended. Instead, she had simply listened to the conversations.

First of all, it turned out that two of the items that had Ron worried had disarmed themselves.

The first item was his tuxedo rental. The Garment Company wanted their syntho-fluid saturated garment back, to put on display at their headquarters. They had not only waived the deposit but had offered him free rentals for life. Their marketing department was already planning an add campaign based on the fact that the 'first blows of the resistance were struck while wearing one of our tuxedos.' Ron was still trying to decide if he should accept the free rentals.

Secondly, Ron didn't have to worry about cleaning the kitchen. The various law enforcement agencies completed their investigations, in the kitchen, on Wednesday. That afternoon, Ned and the other Bueno Nacho employees, both out of work and grateful to Ron for evacuating the establishment, showed up and helped Mrs. Stoppable clean the kitchen. As a result, Ron didn't have a mass of congealed syntho-fluid facing him when he got home.

Also, his folks were now back in their own home, somewhat to the chagrin of the Possibles. The Doctors Possible appreciated two additional adults keeping an eye on the twins. Also, Mrs. Stoppable had insisted on helping in the kitchen, proving that Ron had come by his cooking skills honestly. After about a half-hour of pleasant conversation, his parents left, telling him that he would have a new chore starting Friday, after he got out of the hospital.

The next visitors to show were Monique and Felix. After sharing a high five with Ron, Felix explained that he had used the school's Distance Learning Room to intercept a video feed from a cameraman to a local network.

"The Distance Learning Room," Ron asked. "Isn't that the one with all of the TV screens, so teachers from out of town can teach the classes at our school?"

"Exactly," Felix answered. "The room has both broadband internet access and a satellite receiver. The reporter's feed was encrypted but Wade, Kim's brothers and I've made some additions to the receiver so we can pira…" He glanced around, guiltily, "I mean, so we can receive a wide variety of educational signals. Anyway, the network hasn't broadcast it, so only Monique, Bonnie, Mr. Barkin and I have seen it."

"Why hasn't the network shown it?" Kim asked, "it seems like it would be a real ratings coup."

"I think that some government types want to review it before it's released to the public," Felix surmised. "I know that a couple of agents showed up an took **all** of my copies." Felix said, with a secretive wink to the two.

Monique was much more businesslike. "Okay Blondie," she said. "Just where do you get off damaging that body that was going to go to the prom with me?"

Ron could play the game as well as her. "Monique, I wasn't the one who dam-"

"None of your excuses, mister!" Monique snapped at him, although she had a smile on her face. "You just get yourself well, you hear me? You still owe me that date, and I made that date with a fit, uninjured boy. This Saturday will make you a week overdue on it."

"So what all will I have to do to pay you back?" Ron asked, with his trademark grin.

"Well, a prom consists of dancing and light refreshments, so your late fees include dancing and a full meal. I'll decide just what else you need to do based on how long it takes to get you all the way back." Then suspicious moisture appeared below her eyes and she leaned forward to give him a gentle hug, mindful of his injured ribs. "We saw what you went through, Ron. You just worry about getting better. I don't have so many friends that I can take any chances with any of them."

Ron clumsily patted her back, feeling his own eyes tear up. It wasn't often that someone other than Kim, the Possibles or his parents showed this kind of concern for him. The four teens then chatted for several more minutes before receiving a call that more people wanted to visit. Monique and Felix left, to be replaced by Cindy and Oscar.

"Our folks gave us a break from our grounding to visit you," Cindy explained as she walked in and gave Ron a quick hug.

"Kim told me that you guys were fine," Ron told them. "What all happened?"

"Well, we destroyed your scooter," Oscar said, touching fists with Ron, then he went on to tell them about their adventures.

"Sorry about getting you grounded," Ron apologized. "We shouldn't have let you be distractions like that. That's my job."

"Ron!" Kim snapped. "I never could have taken out the antenna without you there and you know it!" She paused and turned to the couple, "but that was good work with the goons."

Cindy shrugged her shoulders. "I'm glad we were able to help. Don't worry about the grounding, it was worth it."

"Yeah," Oscar agreed. "We haven't seen that clip showing you two on the roof, but Bonnie, Monique, and Felix have been talking about it and the rumors are really starting to fly. The scuttlebutt has Kim pounding a tower apart with some green woman and Ron crushing Eric with his bare hands. It'll be interesting to actually watch it just to see how much the stories have been exaggerated." He paused a moment or two. "Ron, did you really make that Drakken guy say your name?"

Ron modestly waved it off, "I think he was afraid that he was going to get another wedgie."

"You gave one of the most wanted criminals in the world a wedgie?" Oscar had a decidedly amused look on his face.

"It's a long story," Ron explained. "But that was when I quit being a buffoon and became a genuine pain in his—"

"RON!" Kim's glare showed that she didn't think much of the upcoming pun.

"-er, neck?" Ron offered, meekly.

Oscar smirked. "Just how high up did you pull that wedgie?"

"OSCAR!" Cindy snapped, and swatted him. Then she looked at Kim, "I think that **these** two becoming friends was a really bad thing." Kim agreed with her.

"Don't worry about that scooter," Ron told them. "It was pretty much on its last legs anyway. I'm just glad that you guys came out of it okay."

After a few more minutes, another call came in informing them that Ron had more visitors. Oscar and Cindy excused themselves, looking forward to seeing Ron in school the next day.

"You know, the police are going to track down where the synthodrones stored their things before too much longer." Ron mused, while waiting for his next visitor. "Don't the police wind up auctioning things seized from criminals?"

"I think so," Kim replied, "why?"

"Eric had a nice bike." Ron explained. "If it comes up for auction, I just might want to bid on it. Then your brothers can soup it up and we'll have fast transportation."

"Ron Stoppable, you will do nothing of the kind!" Kim declared. "I want nothing, **nothing** connected to…to that thing to be anywhere near me!"

"But…" Ron began.

"Please Ron," Kim interrupted, her voice quivering. "I've already had my 'rents destroy all of the pictures they took and I've thrown away the dress I wore that night. I really don't want anything to remind me about it." Ron thought about it, then agreed. The whole thing had been humiliating for her. He then looked up to see Dave and Bruce, from the wrestling team, walk in.

The two had some hard looks for Kim, but stayed and talked with Ron for several minutes. Most of the rest of the wrestling team, and the wrestling cheerleaders, stopped in over the next hour. Kim was confused, at first, by the hard glares so many of them had for her. Then she realized that to them, she was the girl who had led their teammate on then dumped him for the new hottie. While she felt a fresh wave of guilt, she was also grateful to them for caring so much about Ron. Finally, the scheduled visiting time was over and the last of Ron's visitors left. Kim left shortly afterwards, promising to come back the next morning.

Kim showed up the next morning to find Ron trying to wheedle a description of his new chore from his mother. Mrs. Stoppable flat out refused to provide any details, saying that Ron would learn about his responsibilities in school that very day. After Ron's discharge, the two teens piled into Mrs. Stoppable's car for the ride to school. Once there, more students welcomed Ron back. There was a moment of drama when Tara ran up and gave him an enthusiastic hug, causing his injured ribs to send jolts of agony through his body.

Kim explained the situation to the mortified Tara while Ron slumped against a nearby wall, thankful that he was wearing a protective vest, and tried to get his eyes to uncross. Kim then had to calm Monique down. Monique remembered the 'accidental' bumps to Ron's hip during his previous recovery and assumed that this was more of the same. Bonnie, of all people, showed up and explained that her posse wouldn't be acting up again. Much to everyone's shock, Bonnie then apologized to Ron for her prior behavior towards him. Tara apologized to Ron, Monique apologized to Tara, and everyone was free to head to his or her locker.

Ron and Kim headed to Homeroom, with Ron thanking fellow students for welcoming him back at almost every step. The two teens then stepped inside, where their eyes were drawn quickly to the back of the room. There, rising from one of the spare seats, they saw…

"Yori?" Both teens were shocked, but walked to the back to greet their Japanese friend.

"Possible-san, Ron-san, it is good to see the two of you again." The lithe girl greeted the two with a small bow.

"What brings you to Middleton?" Ron asked.

Before Yori could answer, Mr. Barkin arrived and the bell rang. Kim and Ron went to their seats.

"Stoppable, good to see you've made it back." Barkin declared. There was no mockery in the big man's voice.

"Good to be back, Mr. B." Ron answered.

Mr. Barkin grinned. "I never thought I'd hear **you** say you were happy to be in school, Stoppable."

"The alternative is hospital food, sir," Ron quipped. Mr. Barkin and the rest of the class shared a short laugh at that one.

"Alright people, listen up." This had become Mr. Barkin's catch phrase for calling the class to order. "A couple of items before we start a new school day. The first item is that we have scheduled a dance next Saturday to make up for the suspended prom. The prom committee," he gave Kim a meaningful glance, "will meet in the library tonight and plan the dance." This announcement was met with varying levels of enthusiasm.

"The second item deals with another cultural exchange. Miss Yori Tanaka," he gestured to Yori, who stood up and bowed to the class. "From the Yamanouchi School in Japan will be attending classes with us for the last three weeks of the school year. During this time, she will be accompanying Ron Stoppable to all of his classes."

Ron's eyes grew wide and he turned to face Yori, who smiled at him. He noted that Kim's eyes narrowed, and that she was glaring at him.

Kim's eyes and mouth opened wide with Barkin's next announcement. "The Stoppable's have been kind enough to offer their home to Miss Tanaka for this time. Miss Tanaka will learn about American Culture by becoming Stoppable's shadow for the next three weeks."

* * *

_A/N:_

_As always, thank you all for reading this tale. A special thanks to all of you who have taken the time to review and/or email me with suggestions and comments. Finally, a big thank you to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading and smoothing out my grammar errors. Thanks Joe._


	54. Back to School

Chapter 53: Back to School

Kim spent the rest of the morning in one of the grouchiest moods she could remember. What was going on? Over the course of the last week she had realized that she was in love with her best friend, who had declared that they would never go beyond being friends, despite the fact that he loved her. Then **she** showed up to shadow **him**. She was beginning to think that she should keep a diary, then send it to the _Agony County_ writers.

She only shared one class with Ron after Homeroom, so she didn't see him between that class and lunchtime. She grabbed her lunch and spotted Ron, sitting at a large, round table with Oscar, Cindy, Felix, Monique, and Yori. As she approached, she overheard the six engaging in polite conversation, mostly Yori describing life in Japan. Ron immediately slid over, making room for Yori to slide over, which made room for Kim to sit down. Kim took the offered space, trying not to think about how her sitting there forced Yori up against Ron.

Or about how neither seemed to mind.

"I do not understand this thing called a prom," Yori was saying, as Kim took her seat.

"It's a formal dance for the upper classmen," Monique explained. "Juniors and seniors can attend on their own, or invite anybody they want. We'll decorate the gym and put together dancing and light refreshments. It's the major school social event of the year."

"It had been originally scheduled for last Saturday," Ron continued. "But that little incident with Dr. Drakken invading the entire world sort of threw a wrench in the works. Kim is on both the fundraising and the planning committees, so she gets the dubious honor of putting something together."

Kim favored him with a scowl. "That's not going to be much fun, we had already spent almost all of the budget, so there isn't much left to work with."

"If it will help on the refreshment side, I could unleash '_Chez Ronald'_ for that night." Ron offered.

"It 's sweet of you to offer, Ron." Kim replied. "But I don't think it will help much."

"Not to mention you're unavailable that night," Monique added. "You stood me up once already. We have a date for the prom and I'm not spending it next to the chef."

"I do not understand," Yori chimed in. "Ron-san, are you and Monique-san dating?"

"Well, uh, "Ron started.

"It's a date, but it doesn't mean that we're a couple." Monique explained. "Ron asked me to attend the prom with him. If we enjoy each other's company, we may continue dating. If we don't, we simply won't date anymore and there won't be any hard feelings."

Yori nodded to indicate her understanding. Unnoticed by the others, Kim was looking very intently at Monique. The rest of the lunch break passed with simple conversation on everyone but Ron's part. Ron was still accelerating his healing and was thus stuffing his face with more energy than usual. Other than Kim and Yori, his companions assumed that he was making up for time spent with hospital food.

The afternoon also passed uneventfully. Kim and Ron continued to refuse to divulge details about their adventures. They didn't want to give away any information damaging to the legal proceedings, which had to be coming up eventually. Ron proved to be prepared for his return to classes, so he only had a minimum amount of 'catch-up' homework by the end of the day. With the last class completed, Ron and Yori went to meet up with Kim at her locker.

Kim wasn't particularly happy. While she could effortlessly adjust to a changing situation during a mission, she absolutely hated sudden change in her personal life. Finding Yori waiting for them in Homeroom had been bad. Learning that she would have to come up with some sort of dance plans without an appreciable budget had irritated her even more. Finding out that that little Japanese vixen would be living in Ron's house for the next three weeks was enough to make her eyes narrow just thinking about it. Then, at lunch, Yori's innocent questions brought up the uncomfortable prospect that Ron and Monique might continue dating after the prom. If her two best friends got together **that** way, where would that leave her?

Kim took a deep, calming breath, closed her locker, and turned around. The calming breath shot out of her nose in an irritated snort. Yori and Ron were heading her way; he was saying something emphasizing his words with exaggerated gestures. Yori had one hand over her mouth but Kim could see the upturned corners of her mouth. Ron was being flat out silly again, for Yori's benefit. If that wasn't bad enough, they were walking rather close together, more than was customary for a non-dating couple. Kim shook her head. If the two were a little closer it would mean that they were a couple. If they were a little farther apart, it would mean that they were close friends. Kim sighed; a couple of weeks could really complicate things.

"Got a huge favor to ask you, KP," Ron said as they approached his friend. "Yori and I would like to sit in on the prom committee meeting tonight. I've got a little bit of time before I have to meet with my counselor."

Kim frowned. That was another thing that bothered her. Ron had been seeing a counselor since Tuesday. Although he didn't show it to the public, the act of destroying, 'killing' the two synthodrones was haunting him. Kim had tried telling him that the 'drones weren't human, that one of them had been trying to kill Rufus and the other had been trying to kill him. Yet it still bothered him at a very deep level, since the 'drones had been thinking, feeling beings. Fortunately, the counselor seemed to be good and had concentrated on how bad off the world could have been if Ron hadn't done what he had at the time. Considering it further, Kim realized that she would think less of Ron if his actions **didn't** upset him.

"Sure," Kim replied, getting back to the question. "But attending a meeting that's going to be mainly students complaining about no budget and no time doesn't sound like much of a favor to me."

"It **is** a favor, Possible-san," Yori insisted. "The prom committee is another activity for me to experience."

Kim blinked, "I guess I hadn't thought about that," she admitted. "Sure, lets head for the Library and catch some bad news."

The three teens weren't able to attend the meeting, however. Mr. Barkin intercepted them in route to the Library.

"Possible, Stoppable, Tanaka," the big man caught their attention. "The three of you are to come to my office, now."

"Mr. Barkin, I'm supposed to attend the pr-" Kim didn't get a chance to complete her protest.

"The prom committee has already been informed that they must choose a new head." Mr. Barkin informed her. "When the Principal tells me that the four of us are to attend a meeting in my office, that's what we're all going to do."

As there seemed to be no arguing with this statement, the three teens followed the big man to his office. Once there, they all found seats and waited in awkward silence.

"Uh, Mr. B?" Ron asked, breaking the silence. "Was there something you needed to say to us? I mean, a meeting with the Vice Principal usually means the students being told what they've done wrong and what they're going to do to pay for it. At least that's our usual routine."

The big man snorted. "I'm well aware of our routine, Stoppable." At this, Yori gave Ron a hard look. "But, surprising as it sounds, you haven't acted up for some time." This time Kim gave Ron a hard look. "The Principal told me to bring the three of you to my office and that we would have a meeting with a fifth party."

"That fifth party would be me," announced a voice from Mr. Barkin's computer. The four looked at the screen to see…

"Doctor Director!" Kim exclaimed. "I take it **you** called this meeting."

"Indeed, Miss Possible," the head of Global Justice informed the young woman. "Drakken's take over scheme has caused a severe change in the nature of supervillain crime. This could have a serious effect on the school, so I have asked Mr. Barkin to attend this briefing."

"By the way," the director continued. "Your technical genius is listening in. Not that this should be a surprise but this time I'm aware of it and actually insisted upon it."

Ron and Kim shared a smile.

"Okay, first of all, are all of you aware of the role Miss Tanaka is playing at this time?" Doctor Director asked.

"Ron, Yori, and Kim all nodded. Mr. Barkin looked at them for a long moment.

"I take it that Miss Tanaka isn't just a cultural exchange student." He said.

"Correct, Mr. Barkin," Dr. Director's voice came from the computer. "Miss Tanaka is a martial arts expert as well as a student at the Yamanouchi School. This school has an intense interest in Mr. Stoppable's well being, for reasons they will not disclose. Yamanouchi's headmaster is concerned that a supervillain known as Monkeyfist may attempt to attack Stoppable while Ron is unable to defend himself."

Mr. Barkin thought about this for a few seconds before commenting. "So by making Miss Tanaka a cultural exchange ambassador, they have found a method of putting a covert guardian with Stoppable 24/7?"

"Exactly," answered Doctor Director.

"But Doctor Director," Kim cut in. "Monty has seen Yori in action! He knows that she's a martial arts expert!"

"Yori's cover isn't to fool Fisk," Doctor Director explained. "But to keep anyone else from asking questions. I have to admit that it's a solid cover story that has her hidden in plain sight. In addition, her very presence may keep Fisk from making a move."

"Overt and covert at the same time," Barkin mused. "Impressive."

"True, vice principal, but I'd like to continue the briefing," Doctor Director continued. "Dr. Drakken's action has had a profound effect on the way the world's governments view the techno-villain community. Specifically, those who establish headquarter bases for their schemes are going to be in for a rough time."

"I thought that Kim did a pretty good job of giving them a rough time already." Ron objected. Kim smiled at him.

"She has," Doctor Director continued. "But before Drakken's diablo scheme, these villains usually relied on a doomsday device to extort various nations. The standard operating procedure was to establish a lair in a politically sensitive locale, then use this lair as a base of operations. These villains would count on political considerations to protect them from overwhelming assault."

"I don't understand that at all." Ron admitted. Kim nodded her agreement.

"Take Drakken's Caribbean Island lair," Dr. Director explained. "He picked an island in international waters, but close to several island nations and territories owned by various other nations. While almost every major nation's intelligence service knew this island's location, any military action against it would bring major political fallout. Drakken's defenses could repel anything short of military action or infiltration. As a result, Drakken could execute his various schemes, knowing that he wouldn't face a major assault."

"Okay, I think I get it," Ron jumped in. "Is that why Dementer always sets up his laboratories along Switzerland's border with another nation?"

"Exactly," Dr. Director nodded. "The same holds true for Killigan and the Seniors. They position themselves where major military action is politically risky, and construct sufficient defenses to repel law enforcement."

"But Drakken's latest scheme changed this?" Kim asked.

"Completely," commented Dr. Director. "Drakken unleashed a violent, worldwide attack. Monday, the various Caribbean nations let the U.S. State Department know that they wouldn't protest military action against a certain island. About four hours ago a U.S. Marine Corp Expeditionary Force, backed by an U.S. Navy Task Force, visited the island. The handful of cronies left there surrendered without a shot fired. Right now, military and NSA experts are going over the place with a fine tooth comb." The thin woman looked at her watch. "The various press services will learn about this in about two hours. I am certain that within hours of the press release, numerous nations will come to understandings. Shortly after these understandings are reached, powerful military units will approach Dementor's lair, and Killigan's and the Senior's islands."

Dr. Director took a deep breath before continuing. "Neither Dementer or Killigan are idiots. I suspect that they're both making tracks to hidden refuges right now. The Seniors will probably come to some understanding with the combined French, Spanish and Italian force that will visit their island."

"That explains the international types," Ron chimed in. "But what about single nation guys like Aviarius or The Mathter? How do they keep from getting squashed and will this have any effect on them?"

"Good catch," Dr. Director complimented him. "The U.S. constitution doesn't allow the military to perform law enforcement functions. Both of the villains you mentioned walk a fine line, making sure that they remain criminals instead of invaders. The U.S. has been content to leave them to Team Go. However, both Congressional bodies are currently in emergency sessions. Within two days they will pass legislation authorizing the U.S. Military to engage these villains, with per-instance Congressional approval." She looked at Mr. Barkin and the three teens. "Within two weeks, those two will be driven out of their established lairs and into hiding."

"This is all very impressive, ma'am, but how does that affect these teens and this school?" Mr. Barkin asked.

"Two implications, Vice Principal," Dr. Director explained. "First, there's a chance that either one of these villains, one of their agents, or one of Drakken's remaining agents may attempt to attack Possible or perhaps Stoppable. I doubt this, as Drakken's agents will be more interested in fleeing and the other's will be blaming Drakken."

"The second implication," she continued. "Is that those villains who don't rely on established lairs, or aren't out for world conquest, such as Fisk, Motor Ed or Adrena Lynn, might become emboldened. With these major villains out of the way, one of these minor villains might become more ambitious and might strike Team Possible for the notoriety." Dr. Director offered a small smile. "I doubt it, as such an attack would only bring on public rage, but these criminals aren't always rational."

"So I'm not the only one to notice." Kim commented.

Doctor Director smiled again while Mr. Barkin asked, "What actions do you suggest the school take?"

"Simply make sure that everyone is following your security procedures." Dr. Director suggested. "Keep an eye out for strangers on school grounds and make sure that your systems are in good working order."

"All over it ma'am," the big man responded. "I've personally reviewed our security procedures and a local business in donating a free lock down system. The contractors are already installing it. By next weekend, we'll be able to lock down the entire school with the touch of a button."

"Excellent," Dr. Director approved. "I hope that these precautions are not needed. Team Possible, you deserve to enjoy your make-up prom."

* * *

_Again, thanks to all of you who have read this story. Another thanks to those of you who have left reviews or emailed me with comments or suggestions._

_Special thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading and smoothing over my poor grasp of grammer._

_daccu65_


	55. Cultural Exchange Student

Chapter 54: Cultural Exchange Student

For Kim, real irritation started on Friday night. Kim decided that her rebound prohibitions didn't keep her from putting 'Kim and Ron Friday' back together. Unfortunately, it turned into 'Kim and Ron **and Yori** Friday.' The worst part was that Kim couldn't complain about Yori's presence. She was a guest of the Stoppables, after all, and Ron was obligated to be a proper host. Even if he seemed to be enjoying this chore more than Kim would like. The three teens had gone out for dinner at Riverna's followed by a movie. After that, they headed back to the Possible's house to unwind. Yori was good company and Ron was as funny as ever, but Kim was used to having Ron to herself.

Kim took some consolation in the fact that her brothers were home. The tweebs bombarded Yori with questions about Japan, hardly giving the girl a chance to answer between questions. After Mr. Dr. P called them off, they took to finishing off their small flying machine, which Rufus could pilot. The three teens spent the next forty-five minutes being repeatedly buzzed by a gleeful naked mole rat. Finally, Kim enticed Rufus out of the cockpit with a wedge of cheddar and the tweebs managed some semblance of restraint. Kim, Ron and Yori spent the next hour in pleasant conversation, until Ron said that he was getting tired. Kim ground her teeth behind her smile when the two of them left to walk, unescorted, to the Stoppables' home. Her brothers didn't help.

"I wonder if Yori's a ninja?" Tim wondered out loud.

"Yeah, maybe she can walk across paper without making a sound or leaving a mark, just like that bald guy on that old TV show!" Jim added.

"Tweebs!" Kim interrupted. "First of all that was a TV show. Secondly, that was set in China and Yori's Japanese. Third, that show was about kung fu, not ninja skills. Finally, just because Yori's oriental doesn't mean she knows martial arts." Kim was well aware that she **did**, but she wasn't exactly lying to the tweebs.

"I don't care," Tim snapped back. "She's really light on her feet and the Stoppables' guest room is next to Ron's. I bet she could sneak into his room and put a spider in bed with him without him knowing she did it."

"Yeah," Jim continued the thought. "I bet she could sneak into his room with nobody in the house even hearing her."

The two wandered back to their room, discussing Yori's physical prowess. Kim was left with the unpleasant picture of Yori sneaking into Ron's room for a reason that didn't involve arachnids.

Saturday, Kim walked over to Ron's house to discuss some of her ideas for the 'make up prom.' While Ron wasn't on the committee, he was a very creative person and she took advantage of this by routinely bouncing ideas off of him. She sighed; it was another thing about him that she had taken for granted. She reached the end of the Stoppables' street just as they returned from Temple. Kim stopped cold when they all piled out of the car. Ron was dressed up, of course, in a shirt and jacket but Kim hadn't been ready to see Yori. The Japanese girl had been wearing a dark red dress and she looked absolutely stunning. Ron obviously made some form of comment, causing Yori to cover her mouth and giggle while Mrs. Stoppable smiled and shook her head. Kim turned around and left without being spotted.

Kim returned that afternoon to find Ron and Yori in the kitchen finishing up their homework assignments. Yori was reviewing Ron's work, which made Kim grind her teeth yet again. Ron quickly finished his assignments; Yori made a few minor corrections, then Ron was distracted by a call from Oscar. Fortunately for Kim, Yori was still very curious about the prom, so Kim actually had something to talk to her about. Yori seemed oblivious to the tension Kim was feeling.

The teens then went on a ramble around the city, showing Yori the sights. They went to the mall, where they stopped by Club Banana. The girls looked at clothes and they all talked to Monique. Monique asked Ron what his plans were for the next weekend, but Ron simply told her that they were secret and being finalized even as they spoke. Of course, she couldn't let it go at that, demanding full disclosure. Ron had remained firm and the interplay between the two of them had both Yori and Kim laughing. Finally, they excused themselves, leaving Monique fuming in an amused sort of way.

After showing Yori around for another hour or so, Ron said that he was starting to feel tired and sore. Considering the beating he had taken (was it just last week?) Kim was more than happy to end the tour. She was disappointed when he said that he wanted to go home and rest, rather than go to her place and chill. Again Kim was forced to watch the two of them head for the Stoppables' house, with Ron joking and Yori laughing.

Sunday morning was a shock, with Ron and Yori showing up at the Possibles' house wanting to attend church with them. The 'Cultural Exchange' story might have been Yori's cover, but she fully intended to learn what she could about American life. She had spoken to the pastor after services, asking about basic principals of the Christian faith and how Protestant beliefs differed from Catholic beliefs. The pastor enjoyed the discussion. After leaving the church, Ron and Yori left for the Stoppables' house. Yori quietly asked Kim to come to Ron's tree house that afternoon for a secret meeting between the three of them.

Kim climbed into the tree house to see Ron seated, lotus position, with his eyes closed and a look of deep peace on his face. Yori was sitting next to him with the same posture and expression. A veritable feast was waiting nearby.

"Possible-san," the Japanese girl opened her eyes. "My thanks for meeting with me."

_The biggest problem with Yori is her manners. If she was rude I could be rude right back. Instead she's always polite so I have to be polite right back. ._

"No big," Kim said, taking a seat on the couch. "What can I do for you."

"I wish to discuss Ron-san's relationship with Monique-san." Yori replied, **really** catching Kim's attention.

"They have a date but they aren't a couple." Kim answered. "Are **you** interested in him that way?" Kim decided to really find out Yori's intentions.

"I have not spoken, but I make no secret that I am, indeed, interested in Ron-san as more than a friend and colleague." Yori's honest remark had Kim clenching her teeth again. "But that is not why I ask, Possible-san." Yori looked squarely at Kim. "I have a duty, a mission to perform. I must remain close to Ron-san in order to protect him. I cannot allow this…prom date…to separate Ron-san from me. Will Monique-san and Ron-san wish to be…alone…during this prom date?"

Kim's eyes snapped wide open, would Monique make some sort of play for Ron during the prom? Worse, would Ron make some sort of play for Monique? Worst of all, would they make a simultaneous play for each other? Kim quickly reviewed her conversations with Monique and realized that she didn't recall her friend having a boyfriend since she had moved to Middleton. She remembered Monique telling her that she had some bad experiences with previous boyfriends, but hadn't gone into any details.

"They aren't at that point right now," Kim said, being truthful. "This will be their onl…er, first date. But they've been friends for over a year and proms are a convenient time to expand relationships."

"I do not understand your answer, Possible-san." Yori confessed.

Kim favored the Japanese girl with a crooked grin. "That's because I really don't have an answer. Right now, those two are just friends but Ron **did** ask Monique on a date and Monique **did** accept. Either or both could be looking for a deeper relationship, in which case they could try to slip off for some alone time." Kim paused and glanced at Ron. "Don't you think that it's awkwierd talking about him right in front of him like this? What's he doing, anyway?"

"He is unaware of our discussions since he is in a deep, meditative state," Yori answered. "Much as in a deep sleep, normal conversation will not rouse him. Ron-san continues to accelerate his healing, even more than when he was in the hospital." Noting Kim's confused glance, she explained. "The longer Ron-san is able to maintain his meditative state, the greater he accelerates his healing. While in the hospital, he only dared to enter this state for two hours each day for fear that one of the staff would find him unresponsive. With school on Friday, he was only able to meditate for two hours after 'Kim and Ron' Friday ended. Yesterday, he was able to meditate for four hours and he will manage another four hours today."

Yori gestured at the food and continued, "also, the longer he spends healing himself, the more energy he expends. He will leave his meditative state exhausted and famished."

"Is that why he got tired so early yesterday?" Kim asked.

Yori smiled at her. "Master Sensei told me you were swift to learn these things. Yes, he meditated for four hours yesterday morning and tired himself. He is pushing himself to his limits in healing himself."

"Why are you having him push so hard?" Kim demanded.

"It is **his** choice, not mine, Possible-san." Yori's voice had a decidedly indignant tone. "He is concerned about Fisk. The Yamanouchi School still cannot locate Lord Fisk, so Ron-san wishes to be prepared to defend himself as soon as feasible."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kim was determined to assist her friend.

"Yes, Possible-san, two things," Yori replied. "First, please stay close to him whenever you are able. It does not matter if I am present or not. Should Fisk strike, I may be overmatched."

_Like you have to ask me to stay close when you're with him!_ "Sensei asked me to help, I was intending on doing that anyway." Kim's reply came out as more of a growl than she had intended.

Yori gave Kim a measured look. "The second thing I would ask, Possible-san, is that you speak with Monique-san. You are her friend, so she may be more willing to listen to you explain that slipping off for this…alone time…may have serious consequences."

Kim checked her watch, "how much longer will he meditate during this session?" She asked Yori.

"He has been meditating for an hour and he will meditate another three." Yori answered.

"Will you be able to stay with him the entire time?" Kim prompted.

Yori looked insulted. "That is my duty, Possible-san."

Kim held up her hands in an apologetic manner. "I understand. Monique is on duty at Club Banana. I can run off and have a word with her during her break. Then I can come back here and **we** can talk to Ron about his intentions this Saturday night."

Yori looked at Kim for several long moments, "Yes, Possible-san. We shall work together to insure Ron-san's safety."

Kim nodded her agreement. Then she very deliberately got up, leaned over, and kissed Ron's cheek before leaving.

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Kim called Monique, who scheduled her break to meet with the redhead. Kim caught the bus to the Mall and went straight for Club Banana. As soon as she spotted her friend, Monique finished with her latest customer and waved Kim to follow her to the storeroom.

"Alright, girlfriend, WUTBYHOAS?" Monique asked as soon as the door closed. Kim looked confused. "What's up that brings you here on a Sunday?" Monique clarified.

"Mon, I need to talk to you about your date with Ron on Saturday." Kim started.

Monique looked at her. "He's not your boyfriend, girl. What goes on between the two of us is between the two of us."

Kim's eyes flashed open for a moment, then she regained her temper. "I know that, Mon, just please, don't run off for any couple time, alone with him."

Monique gave Kim a long, level look. "So what if we do? Girl, where do you get off chasing after Eric at the drop of a hat, but telling me to keep my hands off Ron? I think that Ron and I've been friends long enough to take it up a notch if we feel like it."

Kim glared at her friend and in a low, but very firm voice said, "dammit Monique Ron could be in danger!"

Monique's eyes went wide. "What do you mean, girl?"

Kim took a deep breath. "You know that criminal that banged up Ron's hip?" Monique nodded. "He wants to kill Ron! The Yamanouchi School keeps tabs on him, for reasons they won't tell me. Anyway, that creep has disappeared and they're afraid that he might try to kill Ron while he's injured." Kim looked closely at her friend. "Yori isn't just an exchange student, she's a martial arts expert. She's been sent here to guard Ron."

Monique's eyes were very wide. "You're serious about all this?" She blurted out.

Kim regained her composure. "I'm dead serious," she said. "I'm not going to say that the two of you on a date doesn't bother me, but it goes beyond me right now. Whatever you do, keep Yori or me close by wherever the two of you go." Kim looked steadily at her friend. "Unless you think that you're up to tangling with a genetically enhanced supervillain and a pack of trained, attack-monkeys."

Monique just stared at Kim for a long minute. "So, you want to be ready in case this guy makes a move at the make up prom?"

"There or anywhere, anytime until Ron heals up." Kim replied.

"Then there's just one thing to do," Monique told her, heading back to the store. "We've got some new dresses in that look great, and still allow you freedom of movement. Let's find you one that makes you look extra fine!"

"Monique, I don't have a date!" Kim couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Trust Monique to use a potential deadly assault as and excuse to shop for clothes.

"So what?" Her friend asked. "It doesn't mean you can't show up. I was planning on going stag until Ron asked me to go with him." Kim's smile faded a little, but Monique continued. "The only thing that going stag means is that the entire male population at the prom is fair game!" Monique paused to look at Kim. "With **one** exception."

Kim rolled her eyes. "I get the picture Mon, show me what you've got."

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Ron found himself in a truly awkwierd situation. Having two beautiful girls sitting down in front of you, discussing your date with a third beautiful girl should be a dream come true for a sixteen year old boy. He was willing to bet that whomever came up with these 'dreams' didn't include one of the girls being a ninja and the other girl knowing sixteen forms of kung fu **and** possessed of an explosive temper. Ron shrugged, mentally, and listened to his lecture.

"So no matter what happens, no matter what ideas Monique gets, you will keep either Yori or myself in view at all times." Kim was lecturing him like she had lectured her brothers' soccer team.

"That means, Ron-san," Yori chimed in. "That you must not become so fixated upon Monique-san that you fail to account for your surroundings. Lord Fisk may attack at any moment, and the prom may become a prime distraction for his purposes."

"I get it, okay." Ron answered. "Watch my surroundings and keep at least one of you two close by at all times." Kim and Yori nodded at him. "And keep my eyes open when I'm necking with Monique." Two sets of eyes and two mouths flew wide open. "Just kidding," he said with a meek expression.

"So not funny," Kim snapped.

"This is not a matter for humor," Yori declared at the same time.

_Important safety tip, never tweak girls who can kick your butt._ "Ladies," Ron attempted to mollify the two. "I am taking it seriously. I've got a genetically enhanced, kung fu master who wants to kill me! If I didn't laugh I'd have to cry."

Both girls continued to glare at him.

Ron threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, no more jokes. I'll keep close to at least one of you until Sensei's network tracks down Monty."

"Fine," Kim grated.

"Acceptable," Yori's tone was cold. .

"Now that **that's** settled, how about we talk about the dance?" Ron suggested. "If I can use the school kitchen, I can make the refreshments for a lot less than having a caterer do it. I'm seeing the counselor on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but I could prepare things on Tuesday and finish off anything left on Thursday."

That got Kim discussing plans for the dance and Yori, being curious was soon absorbed as well. Ron wasn't much on organizing, but he was creative and had some decorating ideas that had potential. All said, Kim was ready for another prom committee meeting on Monday. She left for her house with all three teens thinking the same thing: _This is going to be an interesting week._

* * *

_Once again, I thank everyone who has taken the time to read, review, and/or email me with comments and suggestions. I especially enjoyed the old 'war stories' with fellow, former wrestlers. _

_A Major thank you to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading and catching my numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes._

_Catch you at my next update._

_Daccu65_


	56. Starting a New Week

**Chapter 55: Starting a New Week**

Monday morning Kim sat, eating her breakfast while waiting for Ron **and Yori** to show up, when her Kimmunicator chirped. 

"What's the sitch?" She answered, using her trademark reply. 

"No missions, Kim, just thought I'd pass on to you what I uncovered from Drakken's systems," Wade told her.

"I thought the NSA staked out BN HQ and won't let anybody near the place," Kim countered.

"They did, but Rufus managed to connect my extractor to one of Drakken's network hubs while you and Ron were fighting on the Roof," Wade explained. "The information is highly encrypted, but I'm deciphering it piece by piece. Last night I decoded some interesting information on the synthodrones."

That got Kim's attention. "Anything GJ would be interested in? They're trying to come up with a cheap, reliable detection method."

"Yes, I know," Wade told her. "But the information I uncovered has to do with their programming and it's, ah, personal." The boy genius rubbed the back of his neck in a surprisingly Ron-like maneuver.

"Personal…" Kim murmured. "Personal to whom?"

"Well…to you," Wade looked decidedly uncomfortable. "I know that you developed…feelings for Eric, er, synthodrone 901. This sort of tells how Drakken programmed his personality."

Kim took a deep breath. "Alright, Wade, there's no pretty way of doing this so just let me have it. It's probably going to hurt but I'm better off knowing."

"Right," Wade collected himself. "Well, Dessie's, synthodrone 902's personality was based on Shego. Apparently Shego told Drakken that an aggressive, attractive girl would have Ron eating out of her hand. Neither Shego or Drakken knew about Ron's previous experience."

"Experience? What experience?" Kim demanded.

"Ulp, er, another thing you don't know about," Wade offered, meekly.

"WADE!" Kim yelled, then caught herself. "Fine, fine, that's between Ron and me. Just tell me about 901, please and thank you."

"Well, Drakken hired a psychoanalyst who spent months studying you and…" Wade began.

"WADE!" Kim snarled, rising to her feet. "Just get it over with!"

"It was Ron," Wade blurted out. "Drakken based 901's personality on Ron's."

Kim sat back in her chair, speechless. This allowed Wade to continue.

"The psychoanalyst spent months studying you; all of your television appearances, your school records, and all of your activities, both in and out of school," Wade informed her. "She came to the conclusion that you were a Type A perfectionist. Your only compatible match would be someone willing to sideline his ambitions to support you. That's when Drakken mentioned Ron and the psychoanalyst studied him and said that he was almost perfectly compatible with you. She concluded that's why the two of you have stayed such close friends for so long."

"Did…did the psychoanalyst study Ron for **his** perfect match?" Kim asked in a weak, quavering voice. 

"No," Wade answered. "Drakken didn't consider him much of a threat. Apparently, Shego talked him into coming up with a way to distract Ron, and the two of them thought that an attractive girl would be good enough." He paused, "Kim, are you all right?"

Kim Possible was crying and laughing at the same time. Tears poured down her chuckling face. "Oh, I'll be fine," Kim assured Wade. "I just realized how well I was played. Did the files tell you what changes they made to Ron's personality?"

"I haven't been able to decipher the specifics, but they supposedly emphasized his positive aspects and reduced his negative aspects."

Kim nodded. "Thanks, Wade. I'm going to need to think this over."

"Are you sure this is thank-you material?" Wade wondered out loud. 

"Yes, it is." Kim was adamant. "It hurts, but I needed to be told. Keep me posted."

"As always, Wade out." The screen went dark. 

Kim thought about what she had just learned while she struggled to make herself presentable. _Ron drove a beat up scooter while Eric had a nice bike. Ron is cute while Eric was gorgeous. Ron is wiry and quick while Eric was buff and had a classically hot build. Ron is a jokester while Eric had a wonderful sense of humor. Drakken had the perfect model for a guy to play me, Ron. He took Ron and improved him. I just wasn't smart enough to fall, completely, for the real thing._

Kim took a deep breath and looked at the clock. Ron and Yori would arrive any minute. _Ron has another secret_, she mused. _When I get a chance, I'll tell him that I want to know what he thinks he can't tell me. I hope we can grow beyond the need to keep secrets from each other._ She finished her breakfast and was ready and waiting when Ron and Yori arrived. Kim immediately noticed that her best friend looked tired, as if he hadn't slept much last night. 

"Ron-san performed his healing meditations this morning," Yori explained, once they were clear of the Possibles' home.

"That frees up my afternoon for homework and my meeting with my counselor," Ron expanded. He produced a piece of paper from his pocket. "If you want to take me up on my offer to cater the dance, here's a list of what I'll need." 

"Thanks, Ron," Kim took the list. "The committee meets again tonight." She frowned. "Bonnie's the new head, since I was busy on Friday. I'll see how she takes the suggestion." Kim's smile returned. "For all of her bad points, she **does** like your cooking." 

"The Ron-man aims to please," Ron grandly declared. Kim and Yori both rolled their eyes and laughed at him.

The walk to school seemed to be invigorating for Ron. Soon the three teens were chatting about life at Middleton High and Ron was demonstrating some of the bondigity dance moves he intended to showcase that weekend. When they reached school, Ron excused himself from the two girls. 

"I know you have to keep an eye on me," he said. "But can I just step a little ways away and talk to Oscar and Felix? We have some secret prom planning to do."

Kim and Yori reluctantly agreed. Ron, Oscar, and Felix were in view, just out of earshot. The three were talking fast, clearly comparing notes and ideas. Their smiles grew wider as they spoke, with a few quick glances back at the two girls. After about five minutes, the three boys exchanged high fives and split up. Ron rejoined his guardians. 

"Just what was all that about?" Kim demanded.

"It's on a need to know basis," Ron replied. "I'm afraid that the two of you don't have the necessary security clearance."

"Ron-san," Yori's voice was uncharacteristically sharp. "Need I remind you that you must stay close to either myself or Possible-san at all times? This…secret planning…must not endanger you."

"Not to worry," Ron said expansively. "The Ron-man's put in some work with his two best male buddies and we've taken care of everything." 

That remark made the two girls share a concerned look. Fortunately for Ron, they had just enough time to visit their lockers and head to homeroom, so Kim and Yori didn't have the time to grill him. 

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. At lunchtime, Kim headed to the lunchroom to find Ron, Yori, Oscar, Cindy, Monique and Felix sitting around their table. Cindy and Monique were grilling Ron and Oscar about their makeup prom plans as Kim arrived. 

"I do not understand your concern," Yori was speaking to Monique, although the Japanese girl was smiling. "Why are you concerned that Ron-san, Williamsen-san, and Renton-san have worked together to plan the evening?"

Both Monique and Cindy rolled their eyes but Cindy answered. "Yori, you might have noticed that all three of these boys have an odd sense of humor." Yori nodded with a smile. "Well, Ron has an unpredictable creative streak, Felix is a genius and Oscar has a work ethic that makes a honeybee look lazy. You put these three together and it's something of a disaster waiting to happen."

Kim and Monique laughed while the three boys put on exaggerated expressions of innocent offense. 

"So you have three clueless, teenaged males," Cindy joked. 

"Hey!" All three boys protested simultaneously.

"Sorry, 'clueless' and 'teenaged male' are redundant terms." Cindy continued, "anyway, Ron comes up with bizarre ideas, Felix figures out how to implement them and then Oscar makes them work. The result is that these three can get into a whole lot of trouble without proper female supervision." Cindy favored the three boys with a hard glare. "That's why I've been hoping that Ron and Felix will just get girlfriends so I can get a little help keeping an eye on them."

Yori and Kim shared a guilty glance while Cindy took a sip of tea before concluding. "Anyway, the three of them have been planning the makeup prom events without either Monique or me knowing what they're up to. We don't know what we're going to be in for."

Monique noticed that both Yori's and Kim's smiles looked a little forced. Yori, however, rallied and asked Cindy, "Cindy-san, is it customary for American girls to treat American boys as if they are incompetent?"

"No Yori," Monique cut in. "When it comes to dating, American boys **are** incompetent!" Cindy and Monique shared a high five. They had placed the boys in their proper place. The teens finished their lunch and headed out for afternoon classes, which proved to be uneventful. With the last class finished, Kim met Ron and Yori for a short chat before she had to head for the committee meeting and they had to go meet Ron's counselor. Kim squared her shoulders and prepared to face a committee headed by Bonnie.

Kim found the meeting to be a pleasant surprise. Thinking back, Kim realized that whenever Bonnie was more determined to accomplish something than to promote herself, she generally accomplished whatever she set out to do. This was no exception. Bonnie quickly called the meeting to order.

"Okay everyone, we all know the big problem," she started. "We spent almost all of our budget on our prom and then that blue guy tried to take over the world. We still have most of the decorations, but we have no refreshments and almost no budget left. Not only that, but we will only have Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to decorate the gym." Bonnie noted Kim's confused look. "Some contractor is putting in new security and lock down systems in the gym and he won't be done until Thursday night." She explained.

Kim nodded, recalling the latter parts of her meeting with Mr. Barkin on Friday.

"So," Bonnie continued. "On Friday, we agreed to have no banquet before the dance, since we managed to have our banquet last time. The music company has offered to set up and run the sound system again at no charge. That leaves the refreshments and decorating. What have we come up with?"

"I've got some ideas on decorating," one of the other girls chimed in. There's a spare bay in the bus garage we can use to build the arch ahead of time. We can leave it there and carry it to the gym on Friday night."

"Good idea," Bonnie approved. "Anything else about decorating?"

"I talked to the contractor yesterday," one of the boys spoke up. "You know, I was asking if we could decorate one part of the gym while he was working in another. Anyway, he said that he was going to need access to the entire gym but he offered us the use of his safety net."

The rest of the committee looked at him with uncomprehending stares.

"The net is spread out, about ten feet up, above the entire gym floor. On Friday, we can hang all of our decorations from the net and just winch it up towards the ceiling. Not needing to crawl up on ladders should save us a ton of time. It's a dark net so with the lights off, we won't be able to see the net, just the decorations."

Now the rest of the committee understood. "Excellent," Bonnie approved. "How long will it take to winch up the net?"

"Just a few minutes," the boy answered. "The contractor has an electric control system for it. He had his foreman show me how to run it." The boy chuckled, "the foreman's a funny guy. He couldn't remember my name, just kept calling me 'little dude' but he was able to teach me how to run the controls."

"Okay, we have a plan for the decorating the gym." Bonnie commented. "How about the refreshments?"

"It doesn't look good," another of the girls spoke up and handed over a sheet of paper. "Here's the prices I've gotten. Even simple meat and cheese trays are out of our budget."

Bonnie looked at the numbers. "It looks like we either go without or go potluck." The tall brunette scowled. "There **has** to be a way to have refreshments! I **so** don't want to do a potluck thing and I **so** don't want to go without." She slumped down in her chair.

"I may have an answer," Kim spoke up and handed Bonnie Ron's list. "Ron is willing to do the cooking and the school will let him use the kitchen. Here's the list of what he needs and the costs."

Bonnie looked over the figures. "This meets the budget!" She then looked at Kim. "With Stoppable doing the prep work, we don't have to worry about the food. When can you pick it up and get him going?"

"I can pick it up tonight and he can take care of it tomorrow." Kim replied with a pained smile.

"What's so funny?" Bonnie demanded.

"Ron made the budget based on Smarty-Mart prices," Kim informed her. "If I so much as go inside that place, he'll be letting me hear about it for another month."

Bonnie smirked at her. "Anything else?"

"Yes, actually," Kim replied. "I don't think that it's fair for Ron to do all of the cooking by himself and he's forbidden me from coming anywhere near the kitchen." The rest of the committee smiled at that one. "Can we get some volunteers to help him?"

Bonnie looked at her for several long seconds before saying. "That sounds fair, let's arrange for some volunteers. K, could I see you for a little bit after the meeting?"

Kim nodded warily. 

With that, the committee arranged for volunteers to help Ron after school the next day and adjourned until Friday. Bonnie and Kim walked to the office, where they got the prom money needed for Kim to buy Ron's supplies. Then the two girls walked out to the school's front steps. Several of the committee members had stayed in the library to talk. 

"The contractor and his foreman were a strange pair," said the boy who had met with them.

"Strange, how?" Asked one of the girls.

"Well, take the contractor. That guy was a class act. He had really good manners and a distinguished, British accent. But he walked funny, kind of like his feet weren't quite right and his canine teeth were awfully big. Then there was his foreman, the one who called me 'little dude.' I'm not that small, but compared to him I am. He really seemed to know his way around the equipment but I swear that every fourth word out of his mouth was 'seriously.' I mean, it was like an English gentleman and an American redneck were working together."

"Were they the only two working in the gym?" The girl asked.

"No," the boy replied. "I couldn't get a good look at the guys working up above the safety net, but their shadows looked really small. But it was the contractor and his foreman that really cracked me up. They acted like they couldn't stand each other! I mean, the way the foreman said 'seriously' all the time made everyone around him say it, as well. Every time the contractor said it he just glared at the foreman. I'm telling you, those two are oil and water."

The girl chuckled. "If they hate each other that much, I wonder why they're working together."

* * *

_Again, thanks to all of you for putting up with me and reading this story._

_Special thanks for all of you who have reviewed, or taken the time to send me emails with comments, suggestions, and corrections. I really appreciate them._

_Finally, as always, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


	57. Kim's Conversations

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* * *

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Chapter 56: Kim's Conversations

Bonnie motioned for Kim to follow her to the school's front doors. Once there, Bonnie looked around to make sure that they were alone. She looked at Kim, then down to the ground, then back up, biting her bottom lip. She was clearly trying to say something but just couldn't seem to start.

"B, why don't you have a seat and think through what you're going to say?" Kim suggested, sitting on one of the steps.

Bonnie's feet were forced into action. She walked down a couple of stairs then sat on the top one. "I-I wanted to talk to you about before…" She stammered into silence.

"Before what, Bonnie?" Kim asked with a scowl.

"Before the prom, the first prom," Bonnie replied. She kept her face down, looking at a point on the ground in front of her. "I-I used to visit this website, it-it was dedicated to p-putting y-you down."

"Why, Bonnie?" Kim asked.

Bonnie sunk lower on the stair. "Because you were always so much better than me and I wanted to take you down a notch. So I was visiting this site, and someone asked me all sorts of things about you. One of the things that I told them was that you didn't have a boyfriend and you seemed to get sad whenever one of us, the cheerleaders, talked about our dates. Then you and Ron started to get closer and you didn't look sad anymore. The person on the site gave me ideas to keep the two of you apart."

"Why did you want to keep us from getting together?" Kim's question had a decided growling tone to it.

"It was the one thing that I had that you didn't!" Bonnie's head came up, tears in her eyes. "The one thing that I could do that you couldn't. I could talk about what Brick and I did on our dates and you couldn't match that. But if you and Stoppable got together?" Bonnie dropped her head again. "Imaging the dressing room talk. I'd say 'Brick and I went to Riverna's, then caught a movie and then went out necking at Lake Middleton.' Hope would say that her and Marty went to that indoor water park, turned heads in their swimsuits and spent a lot of time in the hot tub. Then you would say that you and Ron took a supersonic aircraft to Europe, parachuted into the Austrian Alps, snowboarded to some villain's lair, blew up some doomsday device, caught a bus to Vienna, talked to the world press, then hopped on another aircraft and made out all the way home. It's kind of hard to compete with something like that."

"You thought these missions were some sort of publicity stunt?" Kim refused to question Bonnie's attitude towards dating. That attitude came too close to the one that had put her together with Eric.

Bonnie looked down again. "I guess I **knew** that what you did was dangerous, but I could never really admit it to myself. Then Felix intercepted that video feed and I saw the two of you. I saw those beam thingies that the green lady was shooting at you and how they blasted chunks out of the walls and roof. I saw the beating that Ron was taking and I saw the robots all over the world. Then I knew that you weren't doing it for the attention."

Bonnie sobbed a couple of times and continued. "When I found out that Eric was working for the other side, I realized that I may have helped set you up for something. I…thought I'd better explain it to you."

"Bonnie," Kim replied. "Could you forward some of those emails to my website? I'm sure that Wade would like to investigate this." Bonnie looked up at her, uncomprehending. "If someone has a website set up to mess with me, they could still be gathering information and selling it to someone," Kim explained.

Bonnie nodded. "I really have to apologize to Ron." She continued. "I didn't realize how badly you guys can be hurt on these missions. When I saw him collapse I remembered back to just before the State Tournament, when he showed up with the injured hip and I had my friends…" Bonnie buried her face in her hands and started sobbing again. .

"Bonnie, did you know how badly Ron was hurt?" Kim asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "Not at the time, but after you guys put down the diablos I asked Brick about it. He's never had a Hip Pointer, but he told me how it messes up the guys who get one." Bonnie paused for a few deep breaths before continuing. "I hear Ron's seeing a counselor about kill-er, destroying those two robot things, is this true?"

"Yes," Kim replied. "He still thinks of what he did as killing, even if it was self defense and they weren't human, or even alive. He has nightmares about it."

"I hope he can get over it, I really do." Bonnie's sincerity caught Kim off guard.

Kim thought about it for a moment. "Maybe it's better that it bothers him a little," she said. "After all, you saw how he took Eric down. Would **you** want to slow-dance with a guy who could do that and not feel at least a little guilty?" Bonnie flinched.

"So, when are you going to apologize to him?" Kim demanded.

"This week, when I can get him more or less alone." Bonnie declared. "But I have to a-apologize to you, now, about breaking you guys up. W-we're rivals and all, and I knew that you guys were getting together and I knew that when you did you were going to be so happy and I…" Bonnie took a deep breath. "I just couldn't let you be happy. I wanted you to be miserable and look what happened."

Kim's fist was clenched and her arm was tensed, almost ready to unleash on the brunette. Kim looked down at her hand, forced her fingers open and deliberately relaxed the muscles in her arm. She sucked in a cleansing breath before speaking.

"B, did you even realize that there was a world out there, with important things happening in it, beyond our high school?"

"Of course, K," Bonnie replied. "But it wasn't real to me because I wasn't in on it! All I cared about was being the captain of the cheerleading squad, dating the best boyfriend, and being the girl that every other girl wanted to be and every boy wanted to be with. But seeing the two of you on that roof..."

"Made you grow up just a little?" Kim offered. Bonnie nodded, miserably.

Kim took a deep breath. "I've done the same thing." Bonnie's head snapped up and she stared at Kim with wide eyes.

"I didn't realize it until now, but what you did might have saved me a lot of grief," Kim began. "When Ron and I were flirting I was thinking the same thing. I mean, I was fond of him and I might have even loved him but I had the same view towards dating that you just described. After we rescued that couple, I didn't want to be with Ron for the sake of being with Ron, I was looking for a boyfriend to show off." Kim smiled. "Yes, I was thinking of the dressing room talk and how the two of us could probably clobber any story in there."

Bonnie and Kim shared a short laugh.

"We were close to getting together," Kim continued. "But I didn't want **Ron**, I wanted a **boyfriend, **and Ron was the best around."

"How did I save you the grief?" Bonnie asked, in a quiet voice.

"By keeping me and Ron apart." Kim answered. "Back when you kept us from getting together, I was still shallow about boys. If I had gotten together with Ron, then Eric showed up I might, **might** have dropped Ron too chase Eric." Kim saw no need to let Bonnie know how Drakken had come up with Eric's personality, and thus how probable her dropping Ron would have been. "If that had happened, even if Eric had been real, what would that have done to Ron and me? He's my best friend and it would have told him that he just wasn't good enough for me."

"So, you're not going to get together with him…that way?" Bonnie wondered.

"I don't know for sure," Kim said, climbing to her feet. "But if I do, I'm going to be pursuing Ron to be with Ron, not to have a boyfriend to show off." Kim smiled to herself. "That'll just be a pleasant bonus." Kim and Bonnie shared another short laugh.

"See you tomorrow, K, and I **will** apologize to Ron." She climbed to her feet then paused a moment. "By the way, I'm going to be the absolutely hottest girl at the make up prom and I'm going to be the squad captain before we graduate."

"You're welcome to try," Kim replied with a grin. "And I wouldn't have it any other way. See you tomorrow, B." _This Sunday after the Prom_, Kim promised herself. _I will talk to Ron. I will be open and honest about everything. I don't care if he and Monique decide to start dating. I don't care if he and Yori decide to pursue a romantic relationship. I will simply tell him that I'm interested in him and we will see what happens at that point. He may turn me down, but at least I'll let him know how I feel._

With her mind made up, Kim felt much better about herself. She walked home quickly and spoke to her mother, who had 48 hours off after an extended shift. Mrs. Dr. Possible drove Kim to Smarty-Mart, laughing when her daughter put a scarf over her hair and donned a pair of dark sunglasses before going inside. The two women quickly picked up the items on Ron's list, paying for the purchase with the budget money Bonnie had given Kim. Once home, Kim quickly stowed the food items she had just purchased then headed for Ron's house to tell him that he was on to be the caterer.

Kim chose to duck through the woodland and approach the Stoppable House from the back yard. Walking through the quiet, twilight woods, she heard voices from Ron's workout space. Kim left the path and followed the voices to where Ron was sparring with Yori. Since the two of them hadn't seen her yet, she slipped behind a tree and watched them, quieting a pang of guilt by insisting to herself that she wanted to see just what these two meant to each other.

The two were wearing street clothes, training for a fight that might come upon them unannounced. Ron had clearly been pushing his accelerated healing, since he was almost up to the best level Kim had ever seen him. She watched for several minutes as the two maneuvered through the clearing, exchanging quick blows and combinations. Kim's irritation grew; this was **their** space, where **they** went to train and improve themselves. What was **she** doing here with him?

Kim watched Yori, who would be giggling one second, stern and lecturing the next, then almost…flirtatious the next second. Ron just smiled and pushed himself to his limits, sweat pouring out of him. After several more minutes, the woods grew dark and Ron and Yori walked, side by side, towards the Stoppables' home. Kim waited several minutes after the other two left, gathering her thoughts. Then she retraced her route so that she could arrive at Ron's front door.

Mrs. Stoppable answered the door and let Kim go upstairs. Kim found Yori in the Stoppables' spare room; Ron was in the shower. Kim took a deep breath and walked into Yori's room. It was time for her and Yori to have an honest conversation.

"Possible-san, it is good to see you." Yori rose to her feet and favored Kim with a small bow.

_Do you really think so?_ Kim pushed the thought out of her mind. "So Ron's up to working out again?"

Yori's eyes widened in understanding. "So you observed us in the woods?" She sat on a chair and motioned for Kim to have a seat on the bed.

"Yes," Kim's voice had a decided edge, "Why didn't you tell me?" She took the offered seat.

"We did not know when you would be finished with your meeting." Yori said, confused by Kim's attitude. "When we finished with Ron-san's counselor we took the opportun-"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Kim snapped. "Why didn't you tell me that he was strong enough to train?

"I did not realize that you were his **parent**, Possible-san." The sarcasm in Yori's voice was as unmistakable as it was unexpected. "Should we have asked your permission?"

"I am not Ron's parent," Kim grated at Yori, "I am his best friend of twelve years, his partner in Team Possible and every bit as concerned about him as you are! Just because I'm not using some cover story to keep myself within five feet of him at all times…" Kim snapped her mouth shut with an expression of almost horror.

"So **that** is the reason for this confrontation," Yori's voice was indignant. "You think that I am using my duty, my 'cover story,' to win over Ron-san's heart?"

Kim intended to simply glare at the other girl, but seeing that Yori's remark was an honest question as well as an accusation, Kim nodded her head.

"I told you before, Possible-san, that I make no secret of the fact that I am indeed interested in Ron-san, in that manner." Yori told Kim. "But two things prevent me from, as you would say, taking advantage of the situation."

The Japanese girl's eyes never left Kim's as she continued, "The first is the fact that it is my duty to defend Ron-san. I cannot perform my duty if I am attempting to win his heart. A choice between fulfilling my duty or seeking personal gratification is no true choice, at least where **honor** is concerned." _And do you accuse me of being dishonorable?_ The Japanese girl didn't need words to ask.

This time Yori's eyes dropped to her hands, folded in her lap, before she spoke. "The second reason that I do not…press my advantage…is that it would be futile. Ron-san has already given his heart to another."

Kim took a couple of tries before she could speak. "Th-this date with Monique on Saturday doesn't mean that they're an item."

"It isn't Monique-san who holds his heart," Yori replied, with her face still down.

"Then who-" Kim began to ask, only to be silenced when Yori's face swung back up and the Japanese girl just looked at her until…

"B-but he said that he w-wouldn't," Kim began to protest only to be silenced by Yori's scowl.

"You are both Ron-san's most cherished dream and his worst nightmare," Yori explained to Kim. "You are his, how do you say it, dream girl. He admires you and desires you in **every** way that a boy may desire a girl." Kim blushed at that, but she also sat up a little straighter.

"But his nightmare," Yori continued, "is proving so unworthy of you that you cast him aside. He is terrified that you will find a better best friend or a better mission partner. He feels, however, if you find someone who is better at one of these things, he can continue to be the other for you." Yori literally speared Kim with her dark eyes, "However, he fears that if he is ever replaced as a boyfriend that will be the end of your friendship and partnership, as well. But, he already said this to you, hasn't he?" Kim nodded.

"Yesterday, Possible-san, you asked me if I were interested in him in **that** way," Yori's eyes were very intent. "You asked me as his best friend, who was concerned about him. Now I, as his friend and confidant, ask you the same thing. Possible-san, are you interested in Ron-san in that way?"

Kim didn't hesitate, "Yes, I am." Rather than embarrassing her, the statement filled her with pride.

Yori nodded before speaking again. "Then, as his friend, I must ask you this: Knowing that if another…gorgeous hunk…catches your interest, you may discard twelve years of friendship, will you still accept the risk?"

"Yes," Kim answered. "Because I've learned my lesson. I've learned that appearances and popularity are meaningless compared to loyalty and support." Kim favored Yori with a rueful smile. "While my eyes might get turned by a hottie, my heart never will again."

Yori nodded and stood up. There were tears in her eyes as she spoke again, "Possible-san, I wish you to know that I will continue to protect Ron-san. I will continue to be his friend and to help him train. But I will make no effort to win his affection. He has already given it to you. Please do not discard it, as it is the most precious gift one has to give."

"I won't Yori, and thank you." Kim's eyes were misting up, as well.

Yori managed a small grin. "Know this, Possible-san, if you ever cast him aside I will consider myself free to pursue his affection."

Kim matched her smile, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"So," Yori's voice was firm again, "will you join Ron-san and myself for training after school?"

"I'd love to."

When Ron got out of the shower, he was surprised to see Kim in Yori's room. Kim informed him of Bonnie's decision, and how he was now a caterer. Yori informed him that the three of them would be training together, when other commitments allowed it. Ron couldn't be sure, but a certain tension that he always thought existed between Kim and Yori seemed to have vanished.

* * *

_A/N: Again, thanks to everyone who has read this story, and taken time to read and review. It's been fun, and there are still several chapters left to write, but the end is in sight. I think that I'll be finished within the next two weeks. _

_Thanks again to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._

_daccu65_


	58. Makeup Prom Week

**Chapter 57: Makeup Prom Week**

Tuesday morning Ron and Yori showed up at Kim's house for the walk to school. While they were waiting for Kim, Bonnie, of all people, showed up driving her mother's car.

"I thought you could use some help hauling the food," Bonnie explained.

The four teens quickly loaded the prom food, marking the packages to distinguish it from the standard, school fare. Bonnie caught Ron alone, and made her apologies. There were tears in the tall brunette's eyes when she and Ron came out of the Possibles' kitchen.

Those tears quickly dried up on the drive to school. Ron, sitting in the back seat with Yori, (a sitch that Kim found much easier to put up with after last night) saw fit to describe the prom menu. He did so in a high pitched voice and a fake French accent, mimicking an elderly lady, who had a cooking show on Public Broadcasting in the 60's. By the time they reached the school's parking lot, Ron had moved on to cooking techniques and proper prom dining. The constant laughter almost caused Bonnie to wreck the car on a couple of occasions.

"Is he always this much of a goof?" Bonnie whispered to Kim, as the four teens carried the supplies to the school's kitchens.

"Usually," Kim replied, with a fond glance at Ron's back. The blond boy and Yori were a few yards ahead of the two cheerleaders. Ron had taken the breakables. This was a good thing since he had taken to greeting passing students in the same falsetto voice and accent. The resulting expressions from the unsuspecting passers-by were giving Bonnie and Kim a rough time holding their bags of supplies.

"I'm beginning to see why you hang around with him," Bonnie commented. She chuckled at another student, whom Ron had asked if he preferred sour cream or butter to moisten a devil's food cake. Even Yori's solid composure was beginning to crack a little bit. The four teens stored the supplies in the kitchen and headed off for their morning classes.

Morning classes proved to be tense, but uneventful, with the students facing the distraction of the upcoming dance as well as the need to buckle down to prepare for finals the next week. At lunchtime Kim joined her usual group. She found the three boys all looking very satisfied, Cindy looking relieved, Monique smiling and Yori looking a little flushed. Her friends quickly informed Kim that Felix had just asked Yori to attend the prom with him. Yori had accepted, and the three boys had planned a triple date. The boys hadn't divulged the details, but Cindy felt a little better knowing that she had Monique and Yori to help keep the three of them in line.

Kim and Yori shared a look. The triple date would allow Yori to keep close to Ron without blowing her cover. Kim allowed herself to relax, laughing at how Cindy and Monique, with occasional input from Yori, tried to get the boys to tell them what they had planned. The boys, of course refused to give up any real details, but gave grandiose pronouncements about how they had the absolutely perfect evening planned. Kim's smile became a little more forced when she realized that, of the seven teens at the table, she was the only one who wouldn't be on this date.

_You have no right to be jealous_, she told herself_. How many times have you gone on dates without Ron?__They'll have their triple date, but you'll be there, in the gym, for most of it. _Kim hid a smirk behind her smile; _besides, Yori will be chaperoning Ron and Monique all night._

After a few more minutes, lunchtime was over and it was off to afternoon classes. Much the same as the morning classes, the afternoon classes proved to be tense but uneventful. With classes over, Kim headed for the bus garage, to help on the arch. While she really wanted to help Ron, she knew her track record in the kitchen. She would be the most help by keeping clear.

Kim and several other volunteers spent two hours getting the arch ready. When done, they covered the arch with a tarp and left it in the spare bay, just as Bonnie showed up to check on the progress. With the arch no longer a worry, Bonnie asked Kim to accompany her to the kitchen to check on Ron's progress.

"I've been so mean to him for so long that I'd rather have one of his friends with me," Bonnie explained to Kim. "I'm sure he'll feel better if you're there at the same time." Then Bonnie paused a moment. "Please, just stay in the cafeteria. Don't actually step into the kitchen."

Kim was ready, for just a moment, to punch Bonnie's grin off of her face. Then she realized that her rival had a point. Much as Ron had his strange Ron Factor, the ability to do everything wrong but still accomplish what he had set out to do, Kim had her own factor. Unfortunately, the Kim Factor disrupted any nearby food preparation, usually with loud and messy results. The other thing restraining Kim's temper was the fact that Bonnie was actually trying to check on Ron without making him uncomfortable. Maybe Bonnie was going to cut Ron just a little bit of slack.

The two girls walked across the schoolyard and into the school cafeteria, only to stop cold when the smells from the kitchen hit them. The smell was a combination of baking cake, cookies, bread and meat. Kim's mouth immediately began to water. She looked at Bonnie and could tell that her rival was suddenly ready for dinner, as well. Ron emerged from the kitchen to report his progress in the same falsetto voice and accent he was using that morning.

"We're just finishing up the desserts," Ron reported. We've got the cookies baked and we're decorating the lovely sheet cake. We'll be able to freeze them and take them out on Saturday afternoon. We've also got the turkey, the beef, and the bread baked and will make them into sandwiches on Thursday. We'll mix the punch on Thursday as well. Mr. Barkin wants to be here to put a padlock on it, since he thinks that some more…exotic…ingredients will find their way in if he doesn't protect it. About all we have left to do tonight is clean up."

"Why did you insist on doing everything from scratch?" Bonnie giggled.

"It's my prom too," Ron replied switching to his normal voice. "This is just my way of trying to make it special."

Kim smiled fondly at her friend, and was both touched and shocked to see Bonnie doing the same thing.

"It really smells good, Ron, thank you," Bonnie told Ron. "Tell you guys what, I want to have a word with the contractor in the Gym. You know, find out exactly when we can get to work on Friday and all. I'll catch you tomorrow." Ron and Kim both nodded, too confused by her vocal appreciation to speak. Then they pitched in, cleaned up the kitchen and headed home for a short sparring session with Yori.

* * *

Bonnie went to the gym and asked the big, blonde man she found there to introduce her to the contractor.

"HEY BOSS DUDE!" The man shouted to another man, who was on a ladder. "This babe here wants a word with you, seriously."

The second man slithered down the ladder with an almost cat like grace and approached them. "Edward," he reproached the first man. "Must I remind you to use proper manners? Using the term 'babe' is offensive."

"Seriously?" The big man asked.

"Serious…er, YES! Now get back to work." The contractor took a deep breath and muttered, "Monkeys are fine creatures, but I will no longer work with apes." Then he looked at Bonnie. "My apologies Miss…"

"Rockwaller."

"Miss Rockwaller," he replied. "How may I be of service?"

"I'm the chair of the prom committee," she explained. "When will we be able to start decorating on Friday?"

"Ah, yes," the contractor mused. "One of your members spoke to me last week. I assure you that we will be done on Thursday night, allowing you complete access to the gymnasium all day Friday. Do you still wish to use the net?"

"Yes, that was a very good idea!" Bonnie complimented him, taken aback by his good manners.

"I'm glad that I can be of service," the man replied. "I must sympathize with your situation. You must be facing a monumental task, dealing with a compressed schedule and limited funds."

"Yeah, well it isn't easy, but I'm pulling it together."

"Indeed," he said. "I trust that you and some of your members are putting forth extraordinary efforts?"

"Well, yes," Bonnie was a little confused about his interest.

"I have found myself managing groups in an effort to meet a goal many times," he continued. "And perhaps, Miss Rockwaller, you would accept some advice from me. Those who are making those extraordinary efforts will appreciate public recognition. Perhaps letting everyone at the prom know who has made the effort will make those hard workers more likely to repeat such strenuous efforts in the future."

"You mean, like giving them a little certificate or something, right up on the stage in front of everyone?" Bonnie asked.

"Exactly, Miss Rockwaller."

Bonnie thought about it for a moment. It would be really easy to print out certificates and the frames would be cheap. Not to mention, she would have several pictures of herself presenting the awards. "I like it," she declared. "Thank you. You've been a big help!"

"I do what I can," the contractor informed her, modestly. "I hope that you find this a most memorable celebration."

"It's going to be awfully hard to beat the last one," Bonnie quipped.

Her only answer was a raised eyebrow.

* * *

Wednesday and Thursday passed, for Kim, in a blaze of activity. Between classes, homework, prom activities, and working out with Ron and Yori, there wasn't any time to sulk about her Ron situation. Friday afternoon found her in the final, prom committee meeting.

"So, as soon as we're done here, we'll head to the gym and hang decorations on the net," Bonnie was saying. "How about the arch?"

"Done and we checked on it last night. We'll carry it over as soon as this meeting's over." One of the girls reported.

"Good, how about the music?" Bonnie continued.

"The company was setting up just before I came here," another girl answered. They'll even start up a track while we're working."

"Great, that leaves the food," Bonnie turned to Kim.

"All ready and waiting," Kim reported. "We only have to set it up tomorrow and the underclassmen volunteers are all set and briefed." The redhead frowned for a moment. "We did have a scary moment yesterday afternoon. Oscar showed up to help and had an idea to save time making the sandwiches, which involved the mayonnaise and a power painter. Luckily, saner minds prevailed."

"So, the only thing left is to finish decorating the gym?" Bonnie asked the entire committee. Everyone nodded. "Good! I've got a little chore to take care of. I'll be there in about ten minutes."

Kim went straight to the Gym to help finish the decorating. Ron, Cindy, Yori, and Felix had joined the volunteers decorating the gym. Oscar and Monique were at their jobs. The small crowd of teenagers worked for the next three hours, which Kim found very enjoyable. For that time, she wasn't a world saving teen heroine or the head of the committee; she was just a teenager, among friends, getting ready for a party. Bonnie was actually nice and the music company played a string of popular songs, which made the time fly by.

They hung the decorations then raised the net. Half a dozen teens ran off to the bus garage and fetched the arch while the rest of them set up tables and chairs. Ron himself made sure that the serving tables were set up how he wanted them. Finally, the gym was ready for the following night. Mr. Barkin even complimented them on how quickly they had put this whole thing together. Bonnie positively beamed at the praise.

Kim looked over the gym with a sad sigh. Two weeks ago she and her new hottie date were the talk of the dance. Tomorrow, she was going to be dateless while her two best friends were going together. She looked over at Ron, who was refusing to divulge date plans to Cindy and Yori, much to their amused annoyance.

_Two more days_, she reminded herself. _In two more days I'll tell him how I feel. Then, one way or the other, we'll know where we stand._

* * *

_A/N_

_I know that I must be sounding like a boken record, in a writers sense, but I just have to thank everyone who has been reading, reviewing, and emailing me with comments and suggestions._

_Also, special thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading and becoming more of a collaberator than a proofreader. Thanks Joe._

_As always, catch you at the next update._

_daccu65_


	59. Makeup Prom

**Chapter 58: Makeup Prom**

Ron finished his tie and gave himself a once over in the mirror. He hadn't even attempted to obtain a tuxedo for the makeup prom. One week wasn't enough to rent one, and his father's old powder blue one didn't fit him very well. As such, he was wearing the same slacks and jacket he had worn to temple that morning, but with a clean shirt and a different tie. All in all, he couldn't complain about his appearance, given the time constraints. He couldn't hold in an amused chuckle, thinking that he was sure to look like a slob compared to Monique.

He did a couple of energetic steps. His intensive healing meditations over the last two weeks had paid off well. His ribs only hurt when he did his pre-workout stretching, the wounds to his right leg no longer caused him to limp and the cut under his eye had healed completely. Sure, the scars hadn't had a chance to fade, but like he had told the doctor, he wasn't really that much of a beauty to start with.

He checked his watch. Felix should show up any moment and Oscar was scheduled to show up with their transportation shortly after that. Then Yori and the three boys would head off to Monique's house, where they would pick up Cindy and Monique. Finally the boys would be free to dazzle the girls with the evening's plans. Ron smiled, he was sure the girls would have a good time.

His smile faded a little as he thought of KP being left out. She hadn't been able to find a date and Ron felt sorry for her. Friday night he had hinted to her that she could come along with the three couples but she had flat out turned him down. She had said that she appreciated the offer, but tonight was about the couples. She **did** remind him that he had promised to save her a dance.

"Just about ready, buddy?" He asked Rufus.

"Ready!" Rufus agreed. The little guy was wearing a shirt, jacket and tie of his own. Ron held out his hand so Rufus could run up his arm and onto his shoulder, then they headed downstairs to wait for Felix.

He met Yori at the top of the stairs, and she looked stunning. Ron smiled; Felix was going to be blown away!

"Do you approve, Ron-san?" She asked, returning his smile.

"You're the very definition of beauty, Yori," Ron replied, "Felix is a lucky guy."

"As is Monique-san," Yori returned the compliment.

"Monique is a lucky guy?" Ron asked, with an exaggerated questioning look.

"Ron-san!" Yori admonished him, covering her mouth to giggle. "You and your odd sense of humor!"

The two teens walked down to the living room to await their friends.

"Pictures!" Mrs. Stoppable shouted, as soon as they reached the foot of the stairs. Ron's mother quickly placed the two teens to her liking and started snapping shots.

"Mom, you **do** realize that Felix is Yori's date for the night?" Ron pointed out to his mother.

"Hush, you," his mother admonished him. "I'll be getting pictures of Felix with Yori once he shows up, and Monique's mother will be getting pictures of all of the couples, as well as the entire group. It's a mother thing; we'll trade pictures later. But for right now, my son is all dressed up with a pretty girl who's also all dressed up. I'm **not** missing this opportunity."

"Ronald," Mr. Stoppable addressed his son, once his wife had satisfied her shutterbug impulses. "Your mother can entertain Yori for a few minutes. I'd like to speak to you in my office, if I could."

Ron frowned as he followed his father. Whenever Gene Stoppable used his son's proper name, it meant that a serious talk was about to take place. Given than he was sixteen, was heading to a dance, and had obtained a limited celebrity status from the rumors surrounding Drakken's scheme, he figured he knew what this was going to be about.

"Sit down, Ronald," Gene told his son, as he closed the door behind them. Once his son was seated, Gene seated himself and looked at Ron.

"I'm sure that you're expecting a lecture about behaving yourself," Gene began. "The standard don't drink, don't do drugs, keep your hands off your date and be back by midnight speech." Gene smiled when Ron's eyes widened. "I see that I was correct, but you're not going to get that speech from me." Ron's eyes got even wider.

Gene Stoppable chuckled before continuing. "Such a speech is silly when given to a young man who has spent the last couple of years performing good deeds that very few adults have the courage to perform; while in the company of a lovely young lady." He shook his head. "No, son, I already trust you." The elder Stoppable leaned back. "I have two things to say, Ronald, then I'll let you loose to enjoy the evening you've earned."

"The first thing I have to say is how very proud I am of you," there were tears in Gene's eyes as he continued. "And I know that I don't say it near enough. I was proud of you before, when you chose to support Kimberly on her missions. I was so proud of the way you swallowed your fears and forced yourself to do…terrifying things. I was even more proud this year, when you made a concentrated effort to improve yourself and succeeded."

Mr. Stoppable picked up four books from his desk and moved his chair so that he could sit next to his son. Ron noticed that the books were high school yearbooks, from the four years his father had been a high school student.

"The second thing I need to say has to do with risk," he said, opening his freshman yearbook. He spoke for several minutes, making Ron's mind churn.

* * *

Kim loitered in the lobby, watching the couples file in while waiting for her six friends to show up. Her father had given her a ride to the gym and she flinched inside when she recalled hearing the cameras at work while she walked inside. She just knew that the various 'look at the celebrities' programs and magazines were going to be getting some mileage out of her showing up, alone. She could picture the headlines already '_Teen Heroine Saves the World but Can't Find a Date._' The coverage from the Diablo Incident had resulted in a deluge of cheesy, emailed pick-up lines on her website, and she knew that the coverage from her showing up, alone, would only generate more.

She stifled a sigh. She didn't want to wish ill on anybody, but she really hoped that somewhere, soon, an actress would elope, a teenage pop singer would change religion, or a model would get pregnant, and take the focus off of her. Wade was good about keeping the press at bay, but there was only so much he could do when she was the center of the major news event of the decade. She was lucky that Wade and Mr. Barkin had passed the word, and there would be no media inside the gym during the prom.

Her musings were cut short by a commotion outside. She looked outside and couldn't keep the smile from her face. A large, ornate, horse-drawn carriage had just pulled up to the gymnasium. The driver, who Kim recognized as one of the sophomores on the wrestling team, set the brake, hopped down from the bench and placed a step outside the carriage door. Ron and Oscar emerged from the carriage and helped the girls and Felix step down to the curb. With that, the three boys each offered an arm to his date and escorted the smiling girls inside while the carriage rolled off and the photographers had a field day. Kim smiled; Ron's coverage would finally be flattering.

"Okay, spill!" Kim demanded of Monique. "I want all the details!"

"These three are something else," her friend declared. "We had the carriage ride out to dinner at The Watchtower. I didn't know that they were setting up a balcony dining room, with a private kitchen, but these goofballs had reservations. Not only that, but over the last week they had managed to figure out what the three of us liked for formal dining. We no more that get seated than Ron is putting the final touches on our meal while these two," a gesture at Oscar and Felix, "entertain us with a piano and guitar duet."

"Then they insisted on serving us themselves," Cindy took up the tale. "Poor us! We have to put up with classic transportation, excellent food, wonderful entertainment and unbeatable service."

Yori chimed in, "I fear that my first experience with an American style date may have left me with overly high expectations." The only flaw was the excessive laughter caused by Ron-san's comments."

"Couldn't get him off of the falsetto voice with the French accent?" Kim prompted.

"Oh, we finally got him to quit that," Monique answered. "But as soon as he stopped that, he started acting like that puppet chef with the weird Scandinavian accent. About the time he referred to a spatula as 'der flippen thingamajiggen' we got him to be himself again."

"But I can't complain," Cindy said. "These three went all out, and we've all had a great time." Monique and Yori nodded their agreement.

"I knew that Felix could play guitar," Kim mused. "But I didn't know that you played the piano, Oscar."

"I'm not really at a concert level," Oscar replied, with a modest shrug of his shoulders. "But I'm willing to put in the practice time if I have a good enough reason." That last remark had Cindy positively beaming at him.

You'd better get in line," Kim told them, hoping to avert a major, public love-fest. She pointed to the queue starting at the arch. "It's just about time for your entrance."

"You gonna be okay, KP?" Ron asked. Their long friendship meant that he could spot her forced cheerfulness.

"Sure thing," Kim answered, pulling her camera out of her handbag and getting a smile firmly on her face. "I'm gonna get pictures of all of you coming in."

Kim got her pictures of the three couples and pictures of all of the cheerleaders (even Bonnie) with their dates. She found a table and hung out with Rufus during the opening dance. She had to admit that Ron and Monique made a very handsome couple on the floor. Yori had found it awkward, at first, to dance with Felix. Her solution was to simply sit down across his lap and let him spin them around the floor. Cindy and Oscar, after dating since the holidays, were clearly comfortable with each other. Kim looked at Monique and Ron, again, and sighed.

The music switched to a more upbeat song and the couples split apart and started to dance with a great deal of energy. Kim smiled looking at Ron, who was dancing with grace and abandon, much to Monique's amused delight. Felix impressed her with his control of his wheelchair while Yori was, of course, the very definition of gracefulness. Oscar and Cindy both had an athletic agility that made them look just fine. Kim was tempted to head out onto the floor but she decided that the first few dances were for the couples, so she held off for just a bit. After a few more songs, Monique and Ron came to the table that Kim had claimed.

"Hot on the floor," Monique reported, fanning herself and taking a seat, "and this partner of yours can really kick it. Want to take a crack at him?"

"I think I can handle that," Kim smiled. "You good to go, Ron?" She asked.

"The Ronster's just getting started, KP," he answered. "Rufus, you know what we talked about earlier. I've arranged to have a plate of snacks, all for you, under the table. No getting up on the table, okay?"

"Got it!" The little guy assured his human.

"And remember the bottle when you get a chance." Ron had a mysterious smile. Rufus chuckled and scampered off towards the snack table, while Ron and Kim strode out to the dance floor.

"What was that about a bottle?" Kim asked Ron, once they started dancing.

"I stashed an empty vodka bottle behind the bleachers," Ron explained. "When Barkin isn't looking, Rufus is going to drag it next to snack table and leave it there. When Barkin sees it, he'll think that somebody spiked the punch."

"Ron, you're evil!" Kim laughed, while executing a graceful twirl.

"Just doing my part to make the evening memorable," Ron grinned, then started cutting some moves in earnest.

The next ninety minutes were fun. Rufus was satisfied with his secret snacks under the table (the sophomore servers filled his plate for him whenever he asked them). Barkin found the bottle and his reaction was even more extreme than Ron had anticipated. The big man dumped out the punch bowl, washed it, refilled it and bagged the bottle as evidence. All this time he was bellowing dire threats to whoever had done this dastardly deed, on his watch. The students, of course, all convulsed with laughter. Ron informed his friends that he and Wade had cleaned all the fingerprints off of the bottle, then put a replica of The Pope's fingerprint on it.

Kim had a fairly full dance card, between Oscar, Ron, Felix, and the other cheerleaders' dates. Every time she hit the floor with Ron, several students took pictures of them. She knew that some of those pictures would be sold to various magazines but she didn't care. She was enjoying herself with her friends and they weren't doing anything embarrassing. If a student, rather than a pushy photographer, made some money that was fine by her. Monique, however, laid claim to all slow dances with Ron and Kim forced herself to admit that she was jeallin' about it. After another such slow dance, she saw Monique pull Ron in close to whisper in his ear. He nodded and Monique left him and approached Kim.

"Girl," she said, "I think that you should have a word, in private, with your boyfriend."

"Very funny, Mon," Kim rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious, Kim," Monique insisted, pointing her thumb over her shoulder, at Ron.

"Monique, you know we're not…" Kim started.

"Girlfriend, that boy's only got eyes for you, and you've only got eyes for him. Now he's all healed up and I've had my date. Why don't the two of you step out back, have a talk and find out where you stand with each other?" Monique's tone brooked no argument. "I'll tell Yori where the two of you are so she won't go ballistic."

"You mean you agreed to go on this date with him just to get the two of us together?" Kim asked her best female friend.

"No," Monique's face was just a little sad. "Your boy is a fine dancer and I really wanted to see if the two of us could put something together, you know? The only thing is, I can't compete with twelve years of being best friends and now that you've had a chance to think things over, I don't think any guy can compete with that, either. He's waiting for you, Kim, go patch things up."

Kim hesitated for a moment then stepped forward and gave her friend a big hug. "Thanks, Mon," she said.

"Two things girl," Monique informed her. "Number one, I still get the last dance. Number two; I get all the juicy details from any of your dates. Deal?"

"Deal!" Kim agreed. Then she went to Ron. The two of them shared a look and headed for the gym's back door, behind the stage. Kim noted the nervous yet hopeful expression on Ron's face and was pretty sure she had a matching one on hers.

_A/N: It's really been fun writing this story, and I really appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read it. I hope the next few chapters are enjoyable and entertaining. _

_Thanks to all of you who have read, reviewed, and emailed me. _

_Thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for Beta Reading._

_daccu65_


	60. Conversations and Awards

**Chapter 59: Conversations and Awards**

"That's strange," Kim said, looking at the door they had just passed through.

"What's that, KP?" Ron asked.

"This door," Kim answered. "All of the other exits have those roll-down steel shutter things on the inside. Part of the reason we only had one day to decorate was that the contractor was still installing them. Then there's these bracket things on the outside. They look like they're here to hold a bar, the kind that blocks the door shut."

"Well, I'm sure that Barkin will be all over the contractor when he finds that they've missed a door." Ron replied. "And maybe those brackets let the staff make this door more secure."

"I think that barring a door from the outside is a violation of the fire codes," Kim countered. She shook her head before continuing. "By the way, how did you manage reservations at The Watchtower on such short notice?"

"I called in a favor."

"Oh, that solo mission you took last summer, when I had the swim meet?"

"Yeah," Ron answered. "They were complaining about funny noises coming from the dumbwaiter shaft. It turns out a badger had built a nest in there."

"How did you get it out?"

"I had a few words with it," Ron replied. "Once it realized that it wouldn't have any peace where it was, it agreed to move out."

"You're really some piece of work," she said. "But we're not out here to talk about missions or the doors, are we?"

"No, no we're not," Ron agreed, taking a deep breath. He leaned back against the gym and looked ahead. The stadium was a couple hundred yards away. Ron was pretty sure that there were at least a few students there, either sneaking smokes or finding some couple time. But as long as they kept their voices low, the upcoming conversation should be private. I've got two things that I really need to tell you. You may laugh at me, you may slap me, but I've **really** got to say them."

"I've got two things, as well," Kim said. "Who goes first?"

"Call it," Ron instructed, pulling a quarter out of his pocket. Ron won the toss and chose to go first.

Ron braced himself and told Kim all about his experience with the sleazy reporter and his unsavory minions.

"So it wasn't any sort of great integrity that let me…resist…Dessie," Ron concluded. "It was because I had been burned before." The blond boy looked anxiously at Kim, waiting for her reaction.

Kim looked at him for several endless minutes. "If you had told me about this back when it happened, I probably would have gone ballistic on you," She told him. "I would have gone ballistic, then apologized a couple of days later. That's how I am Ron, and you know it. I'm impulsive and I want to do something every time a sitch comes up. Sometimes I act before I think, but I'm learning." She took a deep breath of her own. "My turn."

Kim told Ron what Wade had told her. She told him that Drakken had based synthodrone 901's personality on his.

"He knew what I was looking for in a boyfriend." Kim told him. "I was looking for you, but I just didn't understand it myself. We were working that way, after we rescued that couple, but I.." Here she paused and looked down at her feet. "I wasn't satisfied with a guy who was right for me... I wanted a guy who the other girls would envy. I didn't appreciate you until you were wrapped in a hottie. I was so terribly shallow."

Ron thought about it for a minute. "We're teenagers," he said, his face both sad and thoughtful. "It's not like I haven't had my head turned by a pretty face. You're just more bold and capable about acting on it than I am. My turn again."

"My dad had a talk with me before I left the house tonight," Ron informed her. "And he recalled his high school days. He pulled out his yearbooks and showed me that the only pictures of him in them were the class pictures. He wasn't in any activities, clubs, committees, or on any teams. He just showed up, went to class, and went home. Sure, his grades were better than mine but he never involved himself in anything." Ron shifted to look at her, now leaning back on a utility pole. "While he told me that he was proud of me for helping you and for all we manage to do, he said what really made him proud of me was the fact that I was willing to go out and risk making a fool out of myself. While he was happy that I succeeded in being a good mascot, then wrestler, he was mostly proud that I tried."

Ron looked up at the night sky in deep contemplation. "He told me that while he regrets the times he made a fool out of himself, he really **regrets **the times he didn't take a chance because he was afraid of making a fool out of himself. He said that what made him proud of me was that I was willing to risk failure, risk being the buffoon, in order to accomplish something."

"Then he showed me pictures of the high school friends he had," Ron went on. "Like me, he didn't have a lot of friends but he was really close to the ones he did have." Ron paused, then looked at Kim. "And he drifted away from every last one. He showed me each and every picture; he drifted away from some of them right after high school, some he stayed friends with through college and beyond. Bottom line up front, he hasn't spoken with any of his high school friends for close to twenty years. He didn't even attend his last reunion."

Ron shuddered, afraid to go on but more afraid not to. "Then he told me not to let my fear of failure prevent me from trying for the best thing in my life."

Kim's eyes were very wide, she looked at him intently.

"So I won't," Ron continued in a nervous voice. "Kim, I know I said that I would never let us be more than friends, but that was just playing things safe. You may laugh at me and you might tell me to leave, but I won't forgive myself if I don't say this. I…I want to try to be more, Kim. I want to date you, I want to try to be your boyfriend." With a last, deep breath he finished, "I want us to try to make the 'teen couple' thing work. I don't want to just drift away from you, KP. I'd rather take the chance that we can make something special, and fail, than show my son your picture in my yearbook and tell him that that we used to be best friends, we drifted apart, and that I haven't spoken to you in twenty years."

With that Ron Stoppable slumped back against the pole, more tired than if he had just spent a half-hour dodging Dementor's goons.

Kim, on the other hand, could barely keep from yelling a certain 'b' word that Ron was known for utilizing. Instead, she took a couple of calming breaths before answering.

"My turn," she said. Ron's eyes bugged out at the almost impossible mixture of quavering and sultriness in her voice. "Now that I have **permission**, from Mon, to say this, here goes. **I** want us to be a couple, Ron." Kim noted Ron's happily flabbergasted expression, smiled and continued. "I can't guarantee that I won't be attracted to other guys. But being attracted to a pretty boy doesn't mean I'm going to chase him. If there's one thing I've learned these last few weeks, it's just how much good looks **don't** matter in the long run. If some hunk shows up I'm going to look, admire, then remember that you've always had my back, how much we've always been a part of each other's lives, and how much more meaningful that is."

"Do you want to know what scares me?" Kim asked. Ron nodded and she answered. "It's that you'll meet another girl like Sue, a cute girl who **doesn't** drag you off to put your neck on the line. Or that you'll meet a girl like Yori, who appreciates you for what you are and doesn't snap at you the minute you're less than perfect." Kim offered him her best smile. "But, like you keep telling me, we're teenagers, so we're bound to make mistakes. I just hope that we can forgive each other without all the drama from now on, since we should have a really long future ahead of us, and almost anything can happen."

Ron nodded and Kim continued, "When I spoke with your sensei in that dream thing, he asked me if I found our friendship fulfilling. I've had the chance to think about it and the answer is yes, but not fulfilling enough. You're capable of being more than a friend to me, Ron. We're capable of being more than friends to each other, and I want that! I want the whole friendship, cuddle-buddy, pushing the curfew, teen hormones making the 'rents nervous thing." Now she was sporting one of Ron's trademark, goofy grins. It had finally happened! It was all out in the open and they were on the same page!

Ron almost let loose with the most powerful 'Boo-yah' of his life, but being behind the gym on prom night, such a bellow would probably by misinterpreted. _She fell for me as a goof, and I can do goofy even here_, he thought. "You're the smart one, Kim, so help me out here."

Kim smiled in anticipation.

"I want us to be a couple and you want us to be a couple," Ron continued. "We've both decided to put aside what had been holding us back and neither of us is attached right now. Does that, make us, a couple?" He pushed off from the pole and took a half-step towards her.

"I'd say it meets the requirements," she answered, also stepping forward.

"No contract to write up and sign, no special handshake or anything like that?" He asked with a gentle smile, covering the remaining distance between them.

"Not that I know of," she replied, with her smile widening.

"So, there isn't anything we need to do to make this official?" He was leaning slightly down towards her as he asked the last question.

_He's taking the initiative_, she thought. _He's the one taking action, taking control, and for some reason, I don't really mind. _

"Oh, I think we can do something to seal the deal," her eyes closed and her hands slid up onto the front of his jacket. She felt his arms circling around her, his warm breath on her face and then…

"Hey guys!" Oscar burst out of the door. "Bonnie's about to make some announcements and she's passed the word that she wants both of you insiiiiiiiddddeee…oops." He practically wilted under the glares of both Kim and Ron, who had jumped back from each other. "Um, er, nice night tonight and wow, would you look at that full moon. Beautiful full moon out tonight!"

"That…would be…a streetlight," Kim grated out.

"Oh, yeah, I can see that now," Oscar rubbed the back of his neck in a very Ron-like gesture.

Kim and Ron glared for a second or two more, then the humor of the situation hit them. Both of them giggled, blushed, then gave each other their best 'later' looks. Ron offered his arm, which Kim took, and the pair went inside. Oscar shook his head a little, then followed them inside.

"Before Yvonne announces this year's prom queen, I'd like to thank some people," Bonnie was addressing the students as Kim and Ron rejoined the assembly. "First of all, I'd like to call the prom committee up on stage to be recognized. So please, come on up as I call your name."

With that, Bonnie called on each of the prom committee members, Kim included, to come up on stage, where she gave each one a framed certificate of appreciation. "These people really put in some effort to put this together on short notice," she announced. "Let's hear it for them!'

The crowd applauded.

"Next, I'd like to thank everyone who helped decorate the gym," Bonnie continued. "Don't you think they did a great job in just one day?"

The crowd applauded again and Bonnie repeated the earlier ceremony, giving all of the volunteers, except for Ron, a certificate. Ron thought that Bonnie was slighting him again until…

"Finally, what do you all think of the food? Bonnie asked the crowd, which brought on another round of applause. "Well, one guy stepped up and took care of that, Ron Stoppable. Come on up here Ron!"

Nudged on by his friends, Ron walked up and onto the stage to stand next to Bonnie. Bonnie held out another framed certificate to him and thanked him for his efforts. As he reached out to take the certificate, the safety net fell from the ceiling, trapping everyone who was on the floor.

There were some screams, then mainly laughter as the students realized what had happened.

"AHHH YEA! Got 'em all, seriously!" A familiar voice bellowed from the hall leading to one of the locker rooms.

"Motor Ed?" Ron gasped, as the big man, flanked by several of his 'Gearhead' buddies, strode into the main gym.

"This is one seriously righteous trap, skinny dude!" The criminal declared. "Alright boys, seriously, grab the wheel-boy's power pack!" Motor Ed produced a remote control from his pocket. "No running away anybody, seriously!" He hit a button and all of the rolling shutters dropped down, sealing the exits. Except for one door.

"Hey boss-dude, the skinny dude's all yours," the mullet wearing man yelled. "I'll take care of Red, seriously!"

"Monkey ninjas, attaaaaack!" The familiar voice called from the gym's ceiling, where Monkeyfist had been hidden above the net.

Monkey ninjas swarmed out from under the stage, surrounding it and giving Ron no route of retreat. Monkeyfist himself appeared, swinging on a rope towards the stage. Ron dropped into a fighting stance while Bonnie screamed in terror. The villain collided with Ron and the two tumbled, fighting, kicking, and grappling, off the back of the stage and out of the door.

Several of the monkey ninjas followed their master outside. Bonnie saw the door swing closed then heard the sound of a bar being set in place.

* * *

_A/N: _

_Thanks again to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._

_daccu65_


	61. Wild Time in the Gym

**Chapter 60: Wild Time in the Gym**

When the net came down on the crowd, Kim had to laugh after a brief moment of panic. _There's just no way I can have a normal prom_, she thought. The net had come loose, that was all. She dropped to her hands and knees and started to crawl, sliding the net over her, towards the nearest edge. It wasn't easy, since there were over two hundred people trapped under the net with her. The various reactions from these people meant that the net tugged everyone in unpredictable directions, and most of the people under it were soon on the ground. Still, Kim wasn't concerned. She would reach the edge, gather up some of her fellow students, and roll up the net to free everyone. They would have the rest of the dance without the decorations. There was still a lot of dancing left to do, and she had no intention of letting a fallen net prevent her from 'sealing the deal' with Ron.

When Motor Ed appeared, Kim was confused. Since when was he involved in a crime that didn't involve at least one internal combustion engine? When the mullet-head started ranting about the power pack, she understood. He had been after the power pack on Felix's wheelchair for almost a year now. But it still wasn't his style to make his move in front of so many witnesses. Then Monkeyfist made his appearance and disappeared with Ron. She wondered what Motor Ed meant by taking care of her, even while she redoubled her efforts to escape the net. She had to rescue Ron!

Two of the monkey ninjas tackled Bonnie and pinned her on the stage. The rest scattered around the net and attacked anyone who started to emerge from under it. Kim gritted her teeth; she would just have to deal with them when she got out. Near the other side of the gym, she saw the Gearheads cut Felix free from the net, dump the boy onto the ground and start dismantling his chair.

Motor Ed produced a piece of machinery and held it up in front of him like it was a weapon. "Man, that monkey dude has the best lines, seriously," he roared. "Let me try one! Okay, Gearheads, snag the pack! That's a good one, seriously! Now, where's Red?" Shrieks and screams answered him.

"Don't you dare say anything," Cindy told Kim. "I don't know what he has planned for you, but it can't be good."

* * *

When the net dropped, Yori found herself in much the same situation as Kim. She had been present when the net had been raised into place, so she assumed that its falling was an accident. While she didn't recognize the large, blond man, the moment he used the word 'trap' she knew that Ron was in danger. She dropped to her knees and pulled a tiny blade out of her hair. It looked like a hair accessory and was made of ceramic so it wouldn't set off metal detectors. As such it was too small and fragile to use as a weapon, but it had a very sharp cutting edge.

Yori went to work cutting a hole through the net, noting that the monkey ninjas were concentrating on whomever was emerging from the edges. The constant thrashing of her fellow captives made cutting the surprisingly strong net difficult, but she managed it about the time the apparent ringleader stalked up to a net with some strange, mechanical device. Yori didn't know what he meant by 'taking care of Red', but her duty was clear. She had to rescue Ron-san.

Yori kicked off her shoes and leapt through the hole she had cut. She felt a moment of guilt for running upon the captives, but larger forces were in play. The monkeys were not prepared for someone emerging from near the center of the net. Yori raced towards the door she had seen Fisk and Ron tumble through, striking down the two monkeys that managed to intercept her.

Yori tried the door, which would not open. She backed off a step and hit the door with a spinning back kick but her foot just bounced off. Whatever was holding the door shut was much stronger than the lock. She would need to find another way to rush to Ron's assistance! She looked around and noted the steel shutters covering every visible exit. She didn't have time to think of anything else because Fisk's monkeys had left the net and closed in on her. She dropped into her fighting stance and turned into a blur of kicks and strikes.

* * *

As soon as Kim reached the edge of the net, Motor Ed found her.

"Whoa, Red," the big man shouted, stepping on the net in front of her. Kim looked up and saw an uncharacteristic, somber expression on his face.

"I'm really sorry it has to go down this way, seriously," the big man told her. "But you and the skinny dude were going to be witnesses at Cousin Drew's trial. He could seriously be facing the death penalty."

"When I found out that I had to take you out, I put this together," he explained, hefting the strange device he was carrying. It was cylindrical and had a long, steel bar poking out of the front, like a lance. Kim could now see that several tubes and hoses ran from the device to a large pack on Ed's back. "I cut a single cylinder out of a '65 Impala's engine," he continued. "That was one sweet engine, and if I have to check out, being nailed by a '65 Impala engine is the way I'd choose, seriously."

Ed stepped forward and pressed the end of the bar against Kim's head. Kim struggled to get out of the way, but the net hampered her efforts.

"Seriously Red, hold still," Ed pleaded with her, tears running from his eyes. "I'll make this quick, seriously." He pulled a trigger, igniting the fuel in the cylinder and launching the bar forward with one-eighth of a classic American muscle car's horsepower.

Kim hadn't been able to get out of the way, but the bar shifted at the last possible moment. The explosion in the cylinder, without the benefit of a muffler, was deafening and the bar tore an impressive divot in the gym floor. Kim looked up to see Ed struggling with Mr. Barkin.

"NOBODY KILLS A STUDENT ON MY WATCH, HIPPIE!" Barkin roared. He tore the makeshift weapon out of Ed's hands and hurled it away. The torn hoses sprayed everybody nearby, including Kim, with motor oil. The two big men promptly started to pound away at each other while Kim slid the rest of the way out from under the net.

"Moe, get the power pack!" Ed yelled, landing a punch on Barkin's face. "Manny, Jack and the rest of you, get Red, seriously! I'll take care of the teach…ooof!" Barkin had come back with a punch to Ed's stomach.

Kim got to her feet as five of Ed's Gearheads rushed her. Rather than wait for them, Kim sprinted forward and kicked the first man. Ordinarily, Kim would have placed her kick just under the thugs sternum but the seriousness of the situation, Ron being abducted and her own attempted murder, prompted Kim to land the kick several inches lower. The thug dropped to his knees and Kim used one of his shoulders as a springboard to launch a spinning back kick at the next man. The kick caught the man solidly on the face, knocking out several of his teeth and sending him sprawling to the ground. Kim had a moment to take a quick look around.

Yori was a blur of motion on the stage, fighting what looked to be about a dozen monkeys. Several more monkeys lay incapacitated around her. Barkin and Ed continued to hammer away at each other, they looked to be pretty evenly matched. Felix slid himself across the floor to struggle with a Gearhead, who continued to dismantle his chair. The thug kicked the crippled boy in the ribs before returning to his work. Kim saw red but the last three Gearheads were on top of her by now. She smiled at the men who were so good to volunteer themselves as targets for her anger.

* * *

Oscar had been at the snack table when the net fell. (Wrestlers without an impending weigh-in tend to enjoy their food.) He had been listening to Mr. Barkin describe the punishments he would unleash upon whoever had spiked the punch when he found himself trapped. However, the table held the net up, giving both Barkin and Oscar more freedom of movement than most. The two quickly rolled the edge of the net back over the table, freeing themselves and the servers. Barkin took off after Motor Ed while Oscar tried to figure out what to do next. Rufus answered that question for him. The little mole rat scampered out from under the table, up to Oscar's shoulder and shouted a single word.

"Yori!"

Oscar saw the Japanese girl struggling with a small horde of monkeys and had a moment of inspiration. He quickly yanked the tablecloth off of the serving table (leaving everything on the table, a feat that, in retrospect, he was quite proud of) and ran for the stage, skirting the edge of the net. The monkeys were so focused on Yori that he was able to approach them unnoticed. He threw the tablecloth, swirling it like a casting net to catch as many of them as he could. Then he leapt on top of the seething mass of cloth and monkeys.

The odds against Yori suddenly dropped. Where she had been facing a dozen monkeys, she suddenly found herself facing seven. She redoubled her efforts and soon incapacitated her remaining tormentors. Nearby, the five monkeys Oscar had trapped had struggled free and were now assailing the boy. Oscar was tough, but he wasn't a fighter and he was being mauled. But now the monkeys were so fixated upon Oscar that they didn't notice Yori approach them.

Yori's knife hand strike to the first monkey's neck dropped it like a stone. It's neighbor spun around to catch her elbow strike square in its muzzle. A third monkey turned from Oscar to leap at her. She slid out of its way, dropped into a low crouch and spun in a full circle with one foot extended, sweeping its feet from under it. Before it could recover, Yori hopped to her feet, brought one of her knees up to her chest and used that foot to stomp on the monkey's head. Yori didn't pause, but sprang forward and delivered a roundhouse kick to the fourth monkey's temple. Oscar was clinging desperately to the last monkey. Yori stalked up behind it and drove a fist into the back of its head, causing it to collapse.

"Williamsen-san, are you injured?" Yori asked.

"Ron is soooo right about monkeys," the dazed boy muttered. His clothing hung off of him in shreds and sharp monkey claws had left him scratched and bloody.

"WILLIAMSEN-SAN!" Yori snapped.

"Wha.." Oscar shook his head. "No, I'm good. Scratched up a little, but I'm good."

"We must assist Ron-san and all of the doors and windows are covered," she told her friend. "Do you know another way out?"

"That Motor Ed guy," he said, after a moment's thought. "He brought the shutters down…"

"So he must have a method of leaving," Yori completed his thought. "Let us **convince** him to show us this method."

* * *

Steve Barkin had been faring poorly against his opponent until he realized that his blows to the man's head simply weren't having much effect. He reasoned that this was probably because the mullet-wearing freak didn't use that part of his body very much. Once he came to that conclusion, the Vice-Principal adjusted his tactics.

"How DARE you come into MY school, on MY watch, and attempt to murder one of MY students!" Barkin stepped inside of Motor Ed's wild haymaker and used the momentum to spin the crook around and slam him into a wall.

"This…is…a…celebration!" He continued, punctuating every word with a punch to Ed Lipsky's stomach.

Motor Ed got in a shot, but he was fading and Barkin was in full righteous rage. The punch was going for Barkin's face, but the big man caught the offending fist, twisted it, and used it to spin Motor Ed completely around him and back into the wall with an impressive thud.

"You are a skilled mechanic," Barkin continued his lecture, pinning Ed to the wall with a forearm under his chin. "You could use this talent to make an honest living contributing to society but instead you live a parasitic life of crime!"

Ed's face was turning blue but he managed to shove Barkin back. Ed threw a right hand, but Barkin dodged it, then caught Ed's arm between his left arm and his body.

"Because of this, you are nothing but a two-bit thug, a waste of breathable air," Barkin accompanied his tirade with three knees into Ed's belly. "And what's more," he brought Ed's arm up, spun around and flipped his blond adversary over his shoulder, to crash in a dazed heap on the floor. "You need a haircut."

* * *

The first of the three oncoming Gearheads reached Kim and threw a sweeping right hook at the redhead. Kim parried the blow, directing it over her shoulder, spun and used the thug's own momentum to flip him over her back. He started to summersault forward but instead of releasing his wrist, Kim hauled back hard. Her yank and his forward roll combined dislocate his shoulder. Kim released him, spinning to face the others as he slumped to the floor. The second man dove forward in a football style tackle, which Kim simply jumped over, leaving him to go sailing past her. The third man showed more skill.

He slowed as he approached and launched a series of combination punches. Kim dodged two good 'left jab right hook' combinations, then stepped inside of his third hook and landed an open palm just under his sternum. Winded, he was unable to resist as she swept his feet from underneath him, using his own extended arm and her hand under his chin to slam the back of his head onto the floor.

The second man returned, catching Kim in a bear hug from behind. He tried to drive her forward and to the ground, but she got her feet set and smashed the back of her head into his face, stunning him momentarily. She then stomped down hard on his right foot. His grip on her loosened, and she spun a circle, still inside his grip, and drove her knee into his groin. He went down and made no effort to get back up. Kim turned to find the last man, the one who had kicked Felix while he was down.

* * *

Monique had just crawled out from under the net when she saw one of Ed's cronies kick Felix The boy's gasp of pain set off her temper in a way that she would have never believed possible. With a shriek that would put one of Ron's monkey nightmares to shame, she launched herself onto the man's back. She kicked, clawed, hit, and even bit the man. The thug flailed around for endless minutes, unable to figure out just what was attacking him.

The man fell forward, then rolled over and managed to pin the raging spitfire underneath him. Holding Monique down with one hand, he pulled back the other fist. Monique saw the blow coming and went into an absolute frenzy; clawing at the man's eyes and screaming adjectives that would make a sailor blush.

Unnoticed by the combatants, Felix pulled himself towards them, grabbing the wrench that the man had been using to dismantle his chair. Most people who saw the boy's slim build assumed that he wasn't particularly strong. After all, he used a cybertronic wheelchair so it would seem that his arms didn't get regular workouts. What the casual observer failed to realize was that every time that Felix left his chair, he did so by hauling his entire weight out with his arms alone. Every time he took a bath, drove his van, or sat in the couch, he moved by using strictly arm strength. As such, it was with surprising force that Felix smashed the wrench into the goon's kidneys, ending the brawl in the Gym.

* * *

"Mr. Barkin," Bonnie ran up to the Vice-Principal, waving a cell phone. "I'm trying to call the police but I don't have a signal."

"We must rescue Ron-san," Yori interjected, arriving with Oscar in tow. "All of the exits appear to be blocked."

"Most of the students are still trapped under the net," Kim added as she approached.

"Those jerks tore up Felix's wheelchair!" Monique was still tweaked.

"All right everyone just calm down!" Barkin yelled at the assembling students. "First, Williamsen, grab some volunteers and start rolling up the net. Get everyone free." Oscar nodded and ran off.

"Possible, go get that funny communication thing of yours, see if you can get us some help." Kim ran off to follow orders.

"Monique, round up every student that Oscar's guys free. Drag all of these miscreants together and don't let them get any funny ideas." Monique was more than happy to follow the big man's instructions.

"Now, Tanaka, what's this about Stoppable?" Barkin's eyes narrowed to slits as Bonnie and Yori described what Fisk had done.

"Barkin-sama, Fisk wishes to kill Ron-san," Yori explained. "He is insane and believes that he will gain great power by dismembering him." Bonnie turned green and sat down. Barkin looked even grimmer than he had before.

"All right, Maggot!" He snarled to the now recovering Motor Ed. "Just how did you intend to leave here after you killed Possible?"

"Seriously, dude, I was just going to go out the door!" It was hard to tell how much of Ed's confusion was due to his beating.

"WHICH DOOR!" Barkin roared into the cringing man's face.

"Well…I…Uh" Suddenly a look of horrified realization spread across Ed's face. "Whoa man, this is seriously bogus!"

"You mean you were so stupid that you blocked all of the doors without a plan to leave?" Barkin's question was delivered in a tone of angry disbelief.

"Hey, quit harshing on me, seriously!" Ed snapped back. "I've never locked down a gym before!"

Steve Barkin shook his head. It was actually possible for a crook to be **too** stupid! His moment of discovery was cut short by Kim's return.

"Mr. Barkin, I can't get a signal on my Kimmunicator." She reported.

"That's cause we put in a jammer thing," Ed explained. "The monkey dude got some seriously cranked gizmo from that short guy that hates my cuz. We hooked it into the building's frame and it's supposed to seriously jam up any signals. He had us cut all the phone lines as well, seriously. "

"How do we turn off the jammer?" Barkin demanded.

"Uh, it's battery backed, locked in a steel box and monkey dude has the only key," Ed answered. "That dude really didn't trust me, seriously."

"We must escape and rescue Ron-san!" Yori reminded everyone. "Can we remove the shutters?"

"They lock down and cover their own anchor bolts when they drop," Ed informed them. "And monkey dude didn't give me any of the keys for them either. Man, that dude has some serious trust issues!"

"Then how do we get out?" Yori's voice was getting frantic.

"We're working on it, Tanaka," Barkin explained. "Being hysterical won't help one bit. Now, how can we break out of here?"

"We can't use his piston weapon thing," Oscar advised, walking up with the device. "It's busted and the fuel's all spilled out."

"Mr. Barkin," Felix interrupted. Monique and Cindy had gotten the boy into a regular chair and were sliding him along the floor. "I have an idea."

Within a few minutes they had pulled the balance beam out of the gymnastics equipment storage room. Using Motor Ed's tools, they removed the beam from the stand. Strips cut from the net provided handles and soon a dozen volunteers were using the beam as a battering ram on the back door. The door was barred from the outside but it didn't take long before the beam blasted the bracket's anchor bolts out of the cinderblock in an explosion of concrete dust.

Kim was the first through the door with Yori right on her heels. The redhead looked around then dropped to her knees with a wail of anguish and buried her face in her hands. Yori brought her hand up to her mouth and became very pale. Barkin forced his way past the shattered door to get a look at what had upset the two very capable young women.

He saw a few monkeys sprawled on the ground and Ron Stoppable's bloodstained jacket, pinned to a utility pole with a short-bladed sword.

* * *

_A/N: _

_As always, big thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading and pointing out me errors. _

_My thanks to all of you for reading this story. _

_Hope to update soon._

_daccu65_


	62. Monkey Business

**Chapter 61: Monkey Business**

Ron landed one good knee strike when Fisk crashed into him so the villain was somewhat winded as they tumbled off of the stage and through the door. Ron managed to curl up and get his feet between them. He straightened his legs, sending Monty sailing through the air. Ron sprang to his feet while the ordinarily graceful Fisk did a belly flop onto the asphalt. Ron felt dampness on his head and down his back. Touching his head, his hand came away covered with blood. Somewhere on his journey from the stage, something, be it the floor, the doorframe, Monty's claws or even his teeth, had given him a cut across his scalp. Luckily for him the blood was running down his back and away from his eyes.

Ron heard a clang behind him and spun to see two monkeys placing a bar across the door. The little pests produced a padlock and locked the bar in place. Ron spun back to face Monkey Fist, who was just climbing to his feet.

"As you can see Ronald," his assailant informed him. "I have gone to great lengths to insure that nobody will interrupt us."

"By teaming up with Motor Ed?" Ron asked, dropping into a fighting stance.

"Sacrifices must be made," Monty replied. "Although I will be very loathe to associate myself with him again." The villain sprang forward with a front kick/punch combination.

"Yeah, but Ed?" Ron commented, springing lightly back out of Fisk's range. "Couldn't find anyone better willing to team up with you?"

"Edward has his uses," Monty countered, this time throwing a roundhouse kick.

"Such as…" Ron prompted, blocking the kick and sweeping his foot out to trip Monty.

"One of his henchmen, the so called Gearheads, had a contractor's license," Fisk informed him, hopping back to avoid the trip. "And for all the buffoon's faults, I must admit that my vehicles have never been so well maintained."

"Seriously?" Ron asked, resuming his fighting stance.

"Seri…argh! That's enough Ronald," the nobleman raged. "You bested me in our last encounter because I underestimated you. This time I know better. You are still unworthy to wield the Mystical Monkey Power, but you **are** a formidable adversary, deserving my best efforts."

With that, Monkeyfist launched himself into a blistering attack. Much like before, Ron worked mostly defensive moves, letting the crazed villain wear himself out. Monty, however, had learned from the last time. He sprang back and sent three of his monkey ninjas to attack Ron.

The blond boy met the first monkey in midair with a flying sidekick that sent the creature sprawling backwards. The second monkey leapt on him as he landed. Before it could strike, Ron planted an elbow in its belly. The creature slumped and the teen drove a knee into its face. The third monkey landed on Ron's back and clawed at his already bleeding scalp.

With a roar of pain and rage, Ron did a back flip, shaking the monkey off of its perch. It landed on its back with the boy on top of it. A quick knife-hand strike to its temple took it out of the fight. Ron looked up to see the forth monkey handing Monty a sheathed Wakizashi.

"You have indeed become a more worthy adversary, Ronald," Monkeyfist told him. The villain unsheathed the blade and saluted Ron with it before advancing. "I almost regret needing to strike you down. Yet the Mystical Monkey Power **will** be mine. Know this, that when I become the Supreme Monkey Master, I shall have a statue built in your honor."

"I hope you don't mind if I try to prevent that, Monty," Ron replied, looking desperately for a weapon. He yanked off his jacket and held it spread out in front of himself, like a matador's cape.

"Naturally, I would think less of you if you did not," Monty informed him, making a couple of feints to measure his reactions.

Ron skipped back then; holding one of his jacket's sleeves snapped the garment at Monty's leading foot, trying to entangle it. Monty skipped back and slashed at the jacket, which Ron pulled back in time.

"Innovative, Mr. Stoppable, I'm impressed," Monty taunted, but Ron knew he had made his point. Monty couldn't just ease up close to him and strike; he would have to make his attack from outside his victim's range.

"Why are you doing this, Monty?" Ron continued his banter. "Even if you kill me, even if you dismember me, you won't gain the Mystical Monkey Power. It doesn't work that way." Ron was trying to channel the power he was talking about, using it to increase his perceptiveness.

"I would be saying much the same in your predicament," Monty retorted. "Falsehood ill becomes you, Mr. Stoppable." He made a sudden thrust, which Ron dodged. "And even if you were correct, Ronald, I don't care. If **I** cannot posses the Mystical Monkey Power, **nobody** will." Monkeyfist stalked forward again.

Ron continued his mental efforts. He needed to be able to tell the difference between a simple feint, like **that**…and **that**…and the real attack, like **this**…

Monty committed himself to a thrust, which pierced the boy's jacket. Ron used the garment to conceal his own movement. The blade actually pinked his ribcage but passed by him and stuck into the utility pole. Fisk tried to pull it back out but Ron seized the man's wrists and drove his knee three times, hard, into the crazed villain's left thigh. Monty was limping when he released his sword and retreated. Ron left his jacket and stalked his opponent.

"I had hoped to defeat you in honorable combat." Monty told Ron, dropping into a ready stance again. "But I see my options are limited. You might wish to know why Edward agreed to assist me."

"Seriously?" Ron prompted.

"Serious…Argh! Enough of this foolishness! Edward Lipsky agreed to do this for his cousin. He **somehow** became convinced that if both you and Miss Possible were eliminated, Dr. Drakken would have a very good chance of receiving life imprisonment in lieu of the death penalty. Since he knows my intentions towards you, what do you suppose he and his Gearheads are doing right now?"

Ron stopped cold. "Ed doesn't have a chance against Kim!"

"Really, Mr. Stoppable? He has constructed some sort of weapon based upon a car engine. I wonder how well Miss Possible's vaunted agility and dodging ability will serve her when she's trapped under a net."

Ron's eyes grew wide and he snatched a quick glance at the door.

"You'll never be able to open it with me on your back," Monty advised him. "She is quite beyond your assistance. But I will make you this offer. Surrender to me now and I will make your demise as painless as I can and I shall prevent Edward from killing your companion."

Ron thought about it. He actually considered it, but then realization washed over him. "No, you freak!" He spat. "You won't do it. You know that if you kill me and Kim survives, she'll hunt you to the ends of the Earth. I'm all you can handle right now and she's worth ten of me. There's no way you would risk that."

"When I gain the Mystical Monkey Power my capabilities shall increase exponentially. But you are correct. There is nothing I can, or will do to preven…"

He was interrupted by an explosion, followed by screams, from inside the gym.

"That, Ronald, would be your dear companion's demise," Monkeyfist's voice was smug.

Ron quit thinking and unleashed. Screaming incoherently at this tormentor, he surged forward in a storm of kicks and strikes. Monty was forced into a grudging retreat, blocking, dodging and taking more than a few hits. The villain got in a few shots of his own but Ron was past caring. Seeing his foe battered and staggered, Ron unleashed a massive right hook…Only to have Monkeyfist catch his fist, directing the force past him as he stepped lightly out of the way, tripping the teenager as he went by. Ron went flat on his face and Fist was on top of him in a second, wrapping a chokehold around his throat.

"Temper, Ronald," the crazed villain taunted in his ear. "That was how you beat me in our previous encounter. I lost my composure. Now you see how the skill level drops when the rage takes over."

Ron couldn't dislodge him. Monkeyfist was larger and stronger. His feet, which could grip like a monkey's, gave him an even greater advantage. Monty's arm choked off his breathing. His vision was starting to dim as Fisk spoke again.

"So you fail in the end, Ronald. Your precious Kim Possible is dead and you will soon follow her. You are the lucky two! Your other dear companion, Yori, will be forced to return to Yamanouchi and report her failure. Of course, her punishment won't last long for I will soon visit the school again. I will eliminate Master Sensei and establish a more useful curriculum."

_What happens when he kills me and doesn't gain the Mystical Monkey Power? _Ron's mind was sluggish. _Who will he kill next? Yori, Sensei, or whomever he thinks has the power? When will it end? If he is allowed to continue, he'll become nothing more than a raving madman, attacking everyone he sees. If he kills me, he becomes a nightmare._

Ron suddenly felt a new emotion. Not anger or despair, but a calm acceptance of duty. New energy flowed through his veins; new strength surged into his limbs. He lifted his head and opened his eyes.

They shone with a blue light.

Ron got himself up on his knees, then his feet. Monty was still on his back, still maintaining his choke. Ron was almost out when he drove himself backwards, slamming Monkeyfist into the gymnasium wall. Monty shifted slightly and Ron drove an elbow, twice, into his tormentor's floating rib. Monty's grip loosened, Ron reached up over his head, grabbed the villain by his shoulders and threw him over his head. Monty sprawled on the asphalt while Ron slumped against the gym, sucking in air. The air stank of sweat, blood, and monkey fur. It was the sweetest air he had ever tasted.

The last of Monkeyfist's monkey ninjas approached. Monty gestured for the creature to attack Ron. Ron just looked at the creature. _I have no quarrel with you,_ he thought_. There is no need to fight._ The monkey looked at him for a moment, bowed to the boy, and slipped off into the night.

Monkeyfist sprang to his feet and launched himself at Ron with an incoherent howl. This time it was the villain who was driven by his rage and the teenager who was calm and collected. The two adversaries exchanged a hurricane of powerful strikes. Ron took a glancing blow to his head and a hard hit to his chest, but his elbows and knees sent Monkeyfist to the ground. Monty stumbled to his feet and, for the first time, fled from Ron Stoppable. Ron hesitated for only a moment before doing something he thought he'd never do. He pursued a fleeing villain.

Monty was still limping from Ron's strikes to his thigh and the teen, still winded from the choking, was only slightly faster than his quarry. He didn't catch Monty until they had entered the stadium and had run onto the field. He was so intent on his goal that he didn't hear the gym door explode open, or Kim's agonized screams.

* * *

Mr. Barkin stared at the bloody jacket for several long moments before coming to his senses. He checked his cell phone and discovered that he had signal outside of the gym. He quickly called the proper authorities. Of course, explaining that there were over twenty criminal monkeys present took some effort.

Rufus had slipped out of the door, as well. He saw his human's jacket and smelled his human's blood. The rodent, however, didn't sink into despair but started to sniff around the area, determined to find Ron, no matter what condition he might be in. After a few minutes he located the trail, heading towards the stadium. Rufus spun around and went to fetch Kim.

He found Kim sitting on the ground next to the pole, crying uncontrollably. Yori stood next to her and was almost as distraught. Oscar stood behind Kim with his hand on her shoulder; hardly able to comfort the redhead since his own grief was intense. He seemed the least affected, so Rufus approached him.

"Yeow!" Oscar jumped at a sharp pain in his foot. Everyone looked down to see Rufus. The little mole rat yelled a single word as loud as he could.

"RON!"

He then went 'on point,' much like a hunting dog. Everyone understood that he had found Ron's trail.

Mr. Barkin considered the situation. He had a single student out in the night, somewhere, maybe already… He had over two hundred students, with several known criminals, inside the gym. He reluctantly acknowledged what his duty demanded of him.

"I have to stay here," he told the teens. "Possible, Tanaka, Williamsen, follow Stop…" he choked up on Ron's name. "Follow the rodent. When you find Stoppable…" He fought back a sob. "Come get me, I'll take care of it." Then his posture straightened and his voice grew firm. "You're in charge, Possible. If you come across that…thing…that did this to Stoppable, take the appropriate action. Nobody will blame you."

Kim stopped crying, climbed to her feet and nodded to the Vice-Principal. The three teens looked at each other. No words were said; none were needed. They just followed Rufus into the night.

Rufus ran as fast as he could. Oscar deliberately kept ahead of the two girls. It wasn't that he considered himself their protector. He knew that either of the two girls behind him was worth several of him in a fight. If it came to a fight he knew that he'd probably just get in the way. Instead, he kept ahead of them in case there **wouldn't** be a fight. He knew what that monkey freak wanted to do to Ron and he was deathly afraid that he had already done it. Put simply, there were certain things that a gentleman just didn't let a lady see, world famous teen heroine or not. He was still keeping several steps ahead of Kim and Yori. Now the naked mole rat led him through the stadium tunnel and down to the field. He could hear some sort of struggle ahead of him. Sprinting past Rufus, he strained his eyes into the darkness until he could see…

* * *

Ron caught up to Monty and tackled him. The two rolled and grappled on the field until the teen gained the upper hand. Pinning Monty down, Ron rained fists and elbows on his opponent until Monty could no longer resist. He knelt on the comatose villain's chest, reached down and tilted Fisk's head back, exposing his throat. Ron drew his fist back for the final blow…

Only to have that fist caught by a strong hand.

"Ron, don't do it!" Oscar shouted. "You'll kill him!"

"I know," Ron snarled. "Get out of my way!"

"No, Ron," Oscar pleaded. Was that his imagination, or were his friend's eyes glowing blue? "You're already in therapy for destroying those syntho things. What is **this** going to do to you?"

"I don't care!" Ron screamed. "He killed Kim! He tried to kill me! If I don't do this, who'll he kill next?"

"Ron, he didn't…" Oscar quit talking when he realized that his friend wasn't listening.

"Ron!" Kim screamed.

"Kim?"

Oscar scrambled out of the way as the two members of Team Possible suddenly found themselves face to face. They stared for a moment, then crushed each other in a powerful hug, tears running down their faces.

They didn't know how long they stayed like that, crouched on the field, clinging to each other. Finally, they pulled back and, despite that fact that one face was smeared with blood and the other face was covered with a ghastly paste of motor oil and concrete dust, they sealed the deal they had talked about earlier.

* * *

_A/N: It almost finished, folks. I know I sound like a broken record but I'll repeat myself yet again. Thank you all for reading. Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to review and/or email me with comments, suggestions, and corrections._

_I must also thank Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading and correcting a dizzying array of puncuation and grammer errors. Thanks, Joe._

_daccu65_


	63. Epilogue

**Chapter 62: Epilogue**

Vice Principal Steve Barkin stood at Middleton High's entryway, watching his charges arrive for the last time this year. Although he wore his usual scowl, made even more intimidating by his healing black eye, he was a very happy man.

Last Saturday he had prepared himself for the roughest duty of his life. He had just restored order in the gym. Police and animal control officials had taken away Motor Ed's bunch and the weird attack monkeys, even though there didn't seem to be much difference between the two. The Fire Department managed to open the locked shutters and break into the jammer box. Another faculty member had just arrived, freeing him up to accompany a bloodhound unit getting ready to search for Stoppable. While his military service had inured him, somewhat, to violent death, the thought of such a fate overcoming one of his students was hard to take. That's when the teens had returned.

The first ones to step out of the night and into the gym's light had been Oscar Williamsen and Yori Tanaka. Williamsen had been carrying that weird, monkey criminal draped over his shoulders with Tanaka keeping a close eye on him. Monkeyfist had been barely conscious, severely beaten, and clearly terrified. When police and paramedics had taken him from the teens, he had looked even more defeated than the beating could explain.

Possible and Stoppable had been right behind the other two teens. Possible was uninjured except for a few bruises. Stoppable, on the other hand, had looked rough. Possible had been helping to support him and both she and that little, pink freaky thing had been holding a bandage, obviously torn from Monkeyfist's clothing, on Stoppable's head. Stoppable's clothing had been torn and bloody, but for some reason, he looked triumphant.

For a short time, Possible and Stoppable had simply stood there while the Prom attendees, who had filed out of the gym to see what was going on, stared back. Finally someone, Barkin didn't even care who, started to applaud. The applause had quickly spread to all of the students. Possible and Stoppable clearly didn't know how to react. They had just stood there, confused.

Until Stoppable's pants fell down.

Barkin almost smiled remembering the rest of that night. Stoppable had been loaded into an ambulance, after Tanaka pointed out that putting him in the same vehicle with Monkeyfist would be a **very** bad idea. Possible had insisted on staying with Stoppable, to absolutely nobody's surprise. Barkin had been ready to order the students back in the gym when Brick Flag, of all people, had spoken up.

"Hey guys," he had addressed the gathered students. "There's still music, some good food, and some **really** pretty girls here who look like they still want to dance. What say we all head back inside?"

The students had gone back inside and resumed the prom, although Tanaka, Williamsen, Cindy, Monique and Renton had departed pretty early. All in all, it had been a prom to remember. There had been an absolute frenzy of media activity around the school for the next several days. But everyone had pretty much ignored the media and had dealt with final exams.

The exams were finished now. Today, Friday, was devoted to returning textbooks and other school equipment. They would have a last assembly this afternoon, during which he would urge everyone to attend the graduation ceremony and have a safe, enjoyable summer.

Mr. Barkin caught sight of Possible and Stoppable approaching the school. Yori Tanaka had already returned to Japan. A Yamanouchi School official had informed the Middleton High Principal that while Yamanouchi held Middleton blameless for the prom incident; Tanaka had been upset by the attack and had wanted to return to Japan. It was a good cover story, even if everyone who saw her fighting the monkeys knew it wasn't true.

Possible and Stoppable, now there was an interesting story. They did not engage in overt displays of affection, at least in public (or he just hadn't caught them at it yet). They were inseparable but that wasn't anything new, they had been inseparable since before he had known them. About the only difference that the casual observer could note was that instead of walking side by side, they now went everywhere arm in arm.

Mr. Barkin couldn't keep a small grin from his face thinking about the media coverage on the two. Even now, a few photographers were watching them from a polite distance. They were probably shadowing the couple, hoping to get the first picture of a hug, a kiss, something more substantial than what the couple had displayed so far. Steve Barkin, however, knew. During his years as an educator, he had seen countless teen couples form, break up, drift apart, make up, go the distance, and the countless other things that teen couples did. Possible and Stoppable were a couple, the tightest couple he had ever seen. They just didn't see any need to broadcast the fact to the world at large and it was driving the media crazy.

The big man wondered what the future would hold for the two. They had both received invitations, earlier in the week, to visit the Yamanouchi School as part of the ongoing cultural exchange. One week, earlier this year, seemed to have done Stoppable a world of good. What would a full month over the summer do too, or for, the two of them? Stoppable had also indicated that he wanted to try out for the football team next fall. Barkin knew that the boy had some impressive foot speed, how would that pan out? Also, would Stoppable be able to place at the State Wrestling Tournament this year? Would Possible keep saving the world, now that most of the international technovillains were on the run? Doctor Drakken, Monkeyfist, and Ed Lipsky and Shego would all be facing court dates in the near future, and the two teens were sure to be called to several witness stands. Whatever happened, he was pretty sure that the two of them would face everything together. He hoped that next year would be quieter than this year had been, but with those two around, things were sure to stay interesting.

Steve Barkin turned around and headed to his homeroom. He had another school day to get started.

_FINIS_

* * *

_A/N and closing comments._

_And that, my friends, is my story._

_I have really enjoyed writing this story. I would like to thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to read my little tale. I would like to offer a special thank you to all of you who have taken the time to post reviews and/or email me with suggestions, comments, corrections, or even to wax nostalgic about time spent out on the wrestling mat._

_A big thanks goes to Joe Stoppinghem, for beta reading and correcting so many of my mistakes. A few of you have commented about how much better my writing became after he started helping me. Thanks Joe, I know it wasn't easy._

_A few more comments and explanations about my twist on the KP 'reality'._

_First, Ron Stoppable: I decided to portray Ron as being more physically capable than the TV show presents him. Like Kim noted at his first varsity match, how many teens, besides her, can do what he does? Let's face it, the kid's an athlete. In my estimation, Ron's early friendship with KP was both the best and worst thing that could have happened to him. The best, in that they set the foundations for an enduring friendship, and later romance. The worst, because he always judged his own achievements by comparing them to hers. With her natural abilities, he considered himself a failure and quit trying. In this story, he has come to grips with the fact that he doesn't have to be the best, he simply has to be his best. With that attitude, a better life became possible._

_Kim: I wanted to show Kim as being a good friend of Ron's, but just a little too self absorbed and proud for her own good. She didn't consider Ron boyfriend material in the early story because he wasn't a hottie. She can be shallow at times as well, but she and Ron are teenagers, and you only grow up by getting burned._

_As a few of you noted, I eliminated the battlesuit that appeared in STD. I didn't think that the suit fit in well with the story, so I simply skipped over it. If I write a sequel, I may include it. But it won't be such a powerful piece of equipment that it allows Cousin Larry to take out Dementer and his henchmen._

_I've also altered the nature of the MMP. My take on the MMP is that it works by enhancing the recipient. As one becomes more attuned to it, one can extend his own boundaries. Thus, the MMP can make Ron stronger, faster, give him quicker reflexes and balance, etc. Perhaps it will even make him more resilient, such as having a greater tolerance to heat and cold._

_I would like to acknowledge three stories that influenced my desire to write this one:_

_The first is Zaratan's 'Mistakes in Love'._

_The other two are the two 'Kim Possible: She Could Do Anything' stories by MrDrP._

_In these stories, Kim leaves Ron to pursue other guys, and winds up regretting her decision. I decided to throw in the twist of forcing Kim to work at getting together with Ron, so that she will hopefully appreciate him a little more._

_Original characters: I lay no claim to any of my original characters. If anyone wants to use them in your own writing, you're welcome to do so. In fact, if you email me I will give you my admittedly incomplete 'bio' on them, just to make things easier on you._

_My final item, the sequel._

_I'm leaning towards writing one at this time. I'm not begging for reviews, but if any of you would like to email me with comments and suggestions, I would really appreciate it. If a suggestion makes the story more enjoyable to read, or a comment makes my writing better, it's a good thing for everyone. My current ideas for issues to bring up in a sequel:_

_What will our teen couple experience in Japan?_

_Will Ron find success as a football player and/or wrestler?_

_Will the last monkey standing, the one who bowed to Ron, play a part in Ron's future?_

_Will Oscar and Cindy stay together? What about Monique and Felix?_

_Will Drakken face a firing squad? Will Drakken, Shego, Monkeyfist, and Motor Ed escape prison?_

_Will daccu65 learn the proper use of who and whom? Will he learn the proper use of to and too? Will he ever learn Proper Capitalization? Will he ever make his chapters longer?_

_Anyway, thank you all one last time for reading._

_Best wishes,_

_daccu65_


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